22
76 Gullick, Malaya, Chap 4 p 43
77 the petition 1857 to House of Commons (cf. Buckley, supra, p 758); Hansard 3rd series, vol cxlix, p 988
Hansard, 3rd series, vol cxlix, p 990 - 991;
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Turnbull, 'Convicts in the Straits Settlements, 1826-67', JMBRAS, xliii, no 1 (1970) p 88
P 98 - McNair, the Superintendent of convicts in Singapore, remarked in his report for 1858/59 how well the convicts worked at brickmaking and roadbuilding, which made them 'still a positive advantage to this colony'
7
Blundell, in his Annual Report for 1858/59, pointed out that Singapore owed all its roads, canals and public works to convict labour
79 Turnbull, Ibid, p 89 - Indian convicts were allowed a freedom that astonished outside visitors (for example, Lord Elgin in 1857 cf. Walrond T, Letters and Journals of James 8th Earl of Elgin, p 189) They often worked on roads and buildings without guards, sometimes they were employed as domestic servants or in government offices, and they could earn and keep wages
80 Turnbull, Ibid, p 90 - those who did abscond were invariably given up by Chinese and Malays to claim the rewards on their heads
81 Turnbull, Ibid, p 91 - In 1833, a European overseer was murdered by a convict; in 1852, there were two clashes between police and convicts in Penang; in 1853, a group of Sikh prisoners attacked their peons in Singapore
82 Hansard, 3rd series, vol cxlix, p 991; for example a Ceylonese convict, Tickery Bandah, who was released in 1864, settled down in Malacca as a shopkeeper, writer and amateur lawyer. He even kept up a correspondence with the King of Siam (cf. Cameron, supra pg 376; Turnbull, supra (on convicts), p 91)
83 Hansard, 3rd series, vol cxlix, p 988
84 Turnbull, supra (on convicts), p 91
85 Their origins are obscure.