POLICE
(Contd.)
232 807 expansion.
In reference yesterday to the Police Stations of the Colony mention was made of the Water Police Station, erected in 1884. This had long been advocated as a prime need on the mainland, and it is interesting to find the following note in the Hong Kong Telegraph of July 13, 1882:
"It is understood that steps have at length been taken for the erection of the new water police station at Tsimtsaitsui, a structure much needed. We also learn that the Praya wall in front of Mr. C. P. Chater's property at the same place is now in course of construction."
In looking back at the early days of the Colony one finds constant reference in the records to rules and regulations and restrictions that seem strange to-day, but were evidently necessary in the unsettled times of Hong Kong's earliest years, when adequate forces of law and order were yet in the making. The regular Police force we have observed (see 8-7-33) was not formed until the arrival of Mr. Charles May, the first substantive Superintendent of Police, in 1845. Prior to that a system of somewhat haphazard recruiting of police, with an auxiliary service of night watchmen, had been formed.
It is interesting to note the conditions in the first three years of Hong Kong's existence as a British Colony. Not only was piracy rife in the surrounding waters, but robbers flourished on land, and a stage was reached where it was dangerous for Europeans to go abroad after dark, and they all slept with loaded revolvers under their pillows. Various private firms, such as Jardines (see 2-8-33) kept their own armed guard, as attacks on godowns and residences were frequent. The Morrison Educational Institute on Morrison Hill (see 29-9-33) was plundered by armed raiders on May 19, 1843, in one of the most daring episodes of the times. It is stated that the superintendent of the place Rev. Mr. S. R. Brown, was wounded with a spear thrust by one of the robbers, but was saved by the intervention of a Chinese pupil.
The raiders carried away the superintendent's Great Seal in addition to other plunder. These robbers, according to one account, were pirates; and it can easily be appreciated how they may have landed at the seafront opposite Wongneichong to attack the residence on the hill, which then practically overlooked the water.
Another most daring affair was an attack by an organised gang of Chinese robbers on February 23, 1844, on the bungalow of Mr. James White. He was a prominent resident, one of the first batch of unofficial Justices of the Peace appointed locally, and co-editor with the Rev. J. L. Schuck of the first locally-printed newspaper the Friend of China and Hong Kong Gazette, which made its appearance on March 24, 1842. Mr. White afterwards returned to England and became Member of Parliament for Brighton. One wonders what opinion he must have given the people at Home of the state of affairs in this newly-founded Colony. Mr. White's house was actually held by the raiders and put in a state of siege, and as they were armed, it became necessary to call upon the military for aid! A squad of Indian sepoys rushed the place, and dispersed the robbers by opening fire with their muskets.
It was in such circumstances that our Police and District Watch Force had their beginnings. We have shown (see 8-7-33) that Captain Bruce, lent from the Eighteenth Royal Irish Regiment, had started a system of Indian night watchmen, largely ex-soldiers, early in 1844. The District Watch Force was not instituted until 1856, at a time when fears were entertained of an invasion of "roughs" from Canton. The Chinese mercantile community, learning of this, petitioned the Government for a force auxiliary to the regular Police, and the
POLICE
(Contd.)
232 807
expansion.
In reference yesterday to the Police Stations of the Colony memtion was made of the Water Police Station, erected in 1884. This had long been advocated as a prime need on the mainland, and it is interesting to find the following note in the Hong Kong Telegraph of July 13, 1882:
"It is understood that steps have at length been taken for the erection of the new water plice station at Tsimtsaitsui, a structure much needed. We also learn that the Praya wall in front of Mr. C. P. Chater's property at the same place is now in course of construction."
In looking back at the early days of the Colony one finds constant reference in the records to rules and regulations and restrictions that seem strange to-day, but were evidently necessary in the unsettled times of Hong Kong's earliest years, when adequate forces of law and order were et in the making. The regular Police force we have observed (see 8-7-33) was not formed until the arrival of Mr. Charles May, the first substantive Superintendent of Police, in 1845. Prior to that a system of somewhat haphazard recruiting of police, with an auxiliary service of night watchmen, had been formed.
I
It is interesting to note the conditions in the first three years of Hong Kong's existence as a British Colony. Not only was piracy rife in the surrounding waters, but robbers flourished on land, and a stage was reached where it was dangerous for Europeans to go abroad after dark, and they all slept with loaded revolvers under their pillows. Various private firms, such as Jardines (see2-8-33) kept their own armed guard, as attacks on godowns and residences were frequent. The Morrison Educational Institute on Morrison Hill (see29-9-33) was plundered by armed raiders on May 19, 1843, in one of the most daring episodes of the times. It is stated that the superintendent of the place Rev. Mr. S. R. Brown, was wounded with a spear thrust by one of the robbers, but was saved by the intervention of a Chinese pupil.
The raiders carried away the superintendent's Great Seal in addition to other plunder. These robbers, according to one account, were pirates; and it can easily be appreciated how they may have landed at the seafront opposite Wongneichong to attack the residence on the hill, which them practically overlooked the water.
Another most daring, affair was an attack by an organised gang of Chinese robbers on February 23, 1844, on the bungalow of Mr. James White. He was a prominent resident, one of the first batch of unofficial Justices of the Peace appointed locally, and co-editor with the Rev. J. L. Schuck of the first locally-printed newspaper the Friend of China and Hong Kong Gazette, which made its appearance on March 24, 1842. Mr. White afterwards returned to England and became Member of Parliament for Brighton. One wonders what opinion he must have given the people at Home of the state of affairs in this newly-founded Colony. Mr. White's house was actually held by the raiders and put in a state of siege, and as they were armed, it became necessary to call upon the military for aid! A squad of Indian sepoys rushed the place, and dispersed the robbers by opening fire with their muskets.
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It was in such circumstances that our Police and District Watch Force had their beginnings. We have shown (see 8-7-33) that Captain Bruce, lent from the Eighteenth Royal Irish Regiment, had started a system of Indian night watchmen, largely ex-soldiers, early in 1844. The District Watch Force was not instituted until 1856, at a time when fears were entertained of an invasion of "roughs" from Canton. The Chinese mercantile community, learning of this, petitioned the Government for a force auxiliary to the regular Police, and the
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