294
G
NOTES AND QUERIES
In 1884 Brenan was H.B.M. Consul at Chefoo. His position in 1880 is not clear from papers to hand, but he appears to have been making official visits to various places on the China Coast.
* China, Imperial Maritime Customs, Reports on trade at the treaty ports for the year 1879. Shanghai, 1880, p. 246,
Ibid., p. 247. It was on behalf of one of Thomas Piry's grandsons that this volume of the trade reports was consulted, leading to the discovery of the two letters to W. Keswick.
& Ibid., p. 246.
THE VILLAGE WATCH IN THE
HONG KONG REGION
Before 1899 most New Territories villages of any size had watchmen or constables employed by the elders to enforce local rules, and in the bigger villages these may have had permanent employment. Lockhart wrote of “kang fu (kaang foo) or village constables, who are appointed by the village, and paid out of contributions made by the villagers according to the extent of their holdings in land". He continued, "Their duty is to keep watch, especially at night. They have the power to arrest, which is deputed to them by the gentry and elders of the village". Writing four years after the transfer of the New Territories, another official, F. H. May, added a qualification: "The so called Police really only village watchmen formerly and still in some instances employed by the villagers were only responsible for prevention of larcenies between villagers. They were not held responsible for robberies by outsiders which were supposed to be beyond their power to prevent".2
The village watch was still a feature of the local security arrangements in the 1960s. Baker gives an account of it in the Sheung Shui villages of the northern New Territories in the 1960s, whilst Watson mentions it in his book on the Man lineage of San Tin, in an adjoining area. My own notes, which follow, made at Nga Tsin Wai, the last surviving village of central Kowloon, in the mid 1960s also offer some information on the subject.
Before and after 1899, this old walled village* had an office
there was no wall as such, but the houses all faced inward, giving the same effect as an enclosure.
294
G
NOTES AND QUERIES
In 1884 Brenan was H.B.M. Consul at Chefoo. His position in 1880 is not clear from papers to hand, but he appears to have been making official visits to various places on the China Coast.
* China, Imperial Maritime Customs, Reports on trade at the treaty ports for the year 1879. Shanghai, 1880, p. 246,
Ibid., p. 247. It was on behalf of one of Thomas Piry's grandsons that this volume of the trade reports was consulted, leading to the dis- covery of the two letters to W. Keswick.
& Ibid., p. 246.
THE VILLAGE WATCH IN THE
HONG KONG REGION
Before 1899 most New Territories villages of any size had watchmen or constables employed by the elders to enforce local rules, and in the bigger villages these may have had permanent employment. Lockhart wrote of “kang fu (kaang foo) or village constables, who are appointed by the village, and paid out of contributions made by the villagers according to the extent of their holdings in land". He continued, "Their duty is to keep watch, especially at night. They have the power to arrest, which is deputed to them by the gentry and elders of the village". Writing four years after the transfer of the New Territories, another official, F. H. May, added a qualification: "The so called Police really only village watchmen for- merly and still in some instances employed by the villagers were only responsible for prevention of larcenies between villagers. They were not held responsible for robberies by outsiders which were supposed to be beyond their power to prevent".2
The village watch was still a feature of the local security arrangements in the 1960s. Baker gives an account of it in the Sheung Shui villages of the northern New Territories in the 1960s, whilst Watson mentions it in his book on the Man lineage of San Tin, in an adjoining area. My own notes, which follow, made at Nga Tsin Wai, the last surviving village of central Kowloon, in the mid 1960s also offer some information on the subject.
Before and after 1899, this old walled village* had an office
there was no wall as such, but the houses all faced inward, giving the same effect as an enclosure.
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