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styled a kung shoh (ABT) with a 'lock-up' for offenders. They were located in some old houses with small windows, near the Tin Hau temple and inside the wall. According to elders born in the 1880s, the village had watchmen when they were young, even though there was still a moat round the village at that time, albeit used as a fishpond. A new office was built above the main entrance of the village in 1949, perhaps because the old was by then, and earlier, let to tenants. A list of the subscribers hangs in the office.
The village had street lighting supplied by a public utility company requested and paid for by the office. It had had this amenity even before the war, from about 1930, and got it before it got a piped water supply.
At the time of my enquiries, the village still employed watchmen, despite the small size of the enclosure. This was so not simply because it was a customary practice, but also because of the presence of many outsiders, in the village and the adjoining squatter areas. It was reported that there were 106 houses in the village, some of them occupied by several families. There were then said to be some 300 families in residence. About a hundred were outsiders, post-war arrivals who were mostly renting and sharing premises.
There was at some times only one watchman, but two or three at others, dependent upon the need, and also upon how much money was available to pay for their services. They were supposed to be village people, though this condition was loosely interpreted, and was usually fulfilled by at least ten years' residence. The longest serving watchman was then Ah Lung, aged over 50, who had served continuously for twenty years since the Second World War. Ah Chong had 8 or 9 years' service. Two others were mentioned, by then retired, one of whom had served for ten years just after the war and the other for just four, (1958---62). The pay was never high. In 1967 the watchmen were paid $350 per month.
I interviewed one old watchman, born in the village about 1906-07. At the time of the Tung Tau squatter village fire in 1951 he was unemployed, so he became a watchman at nearby