POLICE
(Contd.)
8/20
The principal merchants kept armed constables in their employ, having no confidence in the Colonial constables. Every private house inhabited by Europeans had its watchman going round the premises all night, striking a hollow bamboo from time to time to show his watchfulness.
The Police Force organised under the 1844 Ordinance was no howling success. Its members came to be known by the Chinese as "Green coats" (Luk yee) and were held in no little contempt by them. The corps was composed of discharged English and Indian soldiers, without the slightest knowledge of the Chinese language. The Chinese constables were of the lowest order and filled no useful part in the scheme for preserving law and order.
Incendiarism, robberies, murders and piratical exploits on land and sea were in no way diminished by the activities of the Green Coats. (Incidentally, the term luk yee is still used by overseas Chinese. Chai van has replaced it locally.)
Mr. Charles May was the first Superintendent of Police. He brought with him two inspectors, formerly connected with the London Police. They were an energetic trio, but they were faced with overwhelming difficulties. The language problem was the great check to clearing up crime, and it remained so for many years.
Mr. May's services were secured by the then Governor, Sir John Davis. He did the best possible with the imperfect material supplied to him, and re-organised the Police Force of Hong Kong on the model of the Irish Constabulary, with due adaptations to local circumstances.
With the aim of suppressing the system of private night watchmen kept by every European house owner, Major General D'Aguilar (in the temporary absence of Sir John Davis) passed the unpopular "Bamboo Ordinance" prohibiting the use of bamboo drums by which the watchmen used to make the night hideous in order to prove (not merely to their employers, as the Ordinance alleged) that they were on the alert. Whilst securing by this premature measure the peace and quiet of the town during the night, the acting Governor rather encouraged, in the absence of an efficient police force, the nightly depredations of native burglars.
Highway robberies and burglaries continued to be a daily occurrence. Government House was once more robbed in 1844 and some of the Governor's valuables carried off.
On August 25, 1846, the Police Magistrate issued a notice warning residents "not to go beyond the limits of the city singly, nor even in parties unless armed."
The Police Force possessed, as yet neither training nor the moral tone that would have inspired the community with confidence and prevented collusion between the native constables and criminals.
Flogging became the order of the day in an attempt to instil fear into the criminal mind. The "cat" was resorted to freely, for comparatively shadowy offences such as vagrancy.
Just as they are to-day, busybodies were talking in the House of Commons. One horrified member asked the Government what it was going to do about the report that there had been 54 floggings in one day in Hong Kong and the net result of home agitation was that floggings were suspended from January 23 to May 8, 1847.
It now transpires that the first attempt to police the waters of the Colony was made much earlier than 1868, which date I gave in a previous article.
On June 5, 1846 a Colonial gunboat was procured and manned by police to cruise the waters of the Colony. It did excellent work until it was wrecked a little more than two years later.
POLICE
(Contd.)
8/20
The principal merchants kept armed constables in their employ, having no confidence in the Colonial constables. Every private house inhabited by Europeans had its watchman going round the premises all night, striking a hollow bamboo from time to time to show his watchfulness.
The Police Force organised under the 1844 Ordinance was no howling success. It members came to be known by the Chinese as "Green coats" (Luk yee) and were held in no little contempt by them. The corps was composed of discharged English and Indian soldie s, without the slightest knowledge of the Chinese language. The Chinese constables were of the lowest order and filled no useful part in the scheme for preserving law and order.
Incendiarism, robberies, murders and piratical exploits on land and sea were in no way diminished by the activities of the Green Coats. (Incidentally, the term luk yee is still used by overseas Chinese. Chai van has replaced it locally.)
Mr. Charles May was the first Superintendent of Police. He brought with him two inspectors, formerly connected with the London Police. They were an energetic trio, but they were faced with over- whelming difficulties. The language problem was the great check to clearing up crime, and it remained so for many years.
Mr. May's services were secured by the then Bovernor, Sir John Davis. He did the best possible with the inperfect material supplied to him, and re-organised the Police Force of Hong Kong on the model of the Irish Constabulary, with due adaptations to local circumstances.
With the aim of suppressing the system of private night watch- men kept by every European house owner, Major General D'Aguilar (in the temporary absence of Sir John Davis) passed the unpopular "Bamboo Ordinance" prohibiting the use of bamboo drums by which the watchmen used to make the night hideous in order to prove (not merely to their employers, as the Ordinance alleged) that they were on the alert. Whilst securing by this premature measure the peace and quiet of the town during the night, the acting Governor rather encouraged, in the absence of an efficient police force, the nightly depredations of native burglars.
Highway robberies and burglaries continued to be a daily occurrence. Government House was once more robbed in 1844 and some of the Governor's valuables carried off.
On August 25, 1846, the Police Magistrate issued a notice warning residents "not to go beyond the limits of the city singly, nor even in parties unless armed."!
The Police Force possessed, as yet neither training nor the moral tone that would have inspired the community with confidence and prevented collusion between the native constables and criminals.
Flogging became the order of the day in an attempt in instil fear into the criminal mind. The "cat" was resorted to freely, for comparatively shadowy offences such as vagrancy.
even
Just as they are to-day, busybodies were talking in the House of Commons. One horrified member asked the Government what it was going to do about the report that there had been 54 floggings in one day in Hong Kong and the net result of home agitation was that floggings were suspended from January 23 to May 8, 1847.
It now transpires that the first attempt to police the waters of the Colony was made much earlier than 1868, which date i gave in a previous article.
On June 5, 1846 a Colonial gunboat was procured and manned by police to cruise the waters of the Colony. It did excellent work until it was wrecked a little more than two years later.
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