A RUNNING HISTORY OF SINGAPORE: ITS JAIL SYSTEM AND ADMINISTRATION
The origin of the name of this island it is difficult to trace, but the
generally accepted derivation is from the Sanscrit words, "Singh," a
lion, and "Pura," a city or town; and if so, it would not have been
given by the Malays, but more probably by the Indians, who, according to
native history, came over with one, Rajah Suran, and conquered Johore
and this island in about the year A.D. 1160. "Singh" is a title adopted
by the Hindus, and by several military castes of Northern India, and the
word "Singhpur" is often used by them to mean the grand entrance gate to
a palace.
If, on the other hand, we assume that the Malays conferred the name to
the island, they would in all probability have given it from their word
"Singgah," which means "a place to stop at," or "to bait by the way,"
and as the embouchure of the Singapore river formed a commodious and
sheltered retreat for their rowing and sailing prahus, this view is not
inappropriate, the more especially as the affix "pura," meaning a city,
had been known to them from the earliest times, and of which we have one
instance at least from their original home of Sumatra, in the naming of
their kingdom of Indrapura, which was, as Marsden says, "for a long
time, from 1400 A.D., the seat of a monarchy of some consideration and
extent."
The island is about twenty-seven miles long by fourteen broad, and
contains an area of 206 square miles, and therefore is somewhat larger
than the Isle of Wight. It is separated from the mainland of Johore by
what is known as "The Old Straits," from its having been the only
channel used in the early days by vessels bound eastward. The island was
first settled upon, according to Balfour, "in A.D. 1160, by one Sri Sura
Bawana," and from an inscription on a sandstone rock at the mouth of the
Singapore River, now unfortunately destroyed, it would appear that Rajah
Suran, of Amdan Nagara, after conquering the state of Johore with
certain natives of India (Klings), proceeded in 1201 to a country then
called "Tamask," and afterwards returned to "Kling," leaving the stone
inscription in memory of his visit and victory. To have conquered
Johore, the Rajah's vessels must have sailed by the Old Straits; but we
have no record as to where "Tamask" was situated, and it is not given
in the oldest Atlases we have been able to consult, viz. by D'Anville
and others, though it may be in the charts of the 14th and 15th
centuries. It seems more probable that the expedition set out from Java
or Sumatra, to which places Hindus had, as we know, in very remote times
proceeded from India, as the old ruins they have left there of their
temples, supposed to be of the 7th century, plainly prove.
Sir Stamford Raffles, as we have already stated when treating of
Bencoolen, took up the appointment of Lieutenant-Governor of that
settlement on the 22nd March, 1818, and he had not been there long
before he recognized the fact that British interests needed a trading
centre somewhere in the Straits of Malacca. It was, he said, "not that
any extension of territory was necessary, but the aim of Government
should be to acquire somewhere in the Straits a commercial station with
a military guard, and that, when once formed, it was his belief that it
would soon maintain a successful rivalry with a neighbouring Power, who
would be obliged either to adopt a liberal system of free trade, or see
the trade of these seas collected under the British flag."
It is well known how the port of Rhio, on the west coast of the island
of Bintang, which is separated from the island of Battam by the Rhio
Strait, was first thought of; but we were too late in occupying it. Then
the Carrimon Islands were suggested by the Resident Councillor of
Malacca, at that time Major Farquhar; but the harbour was too exposed to
the prevailing monsoon. Subsequently Tanjong Jatti, on the island of
Bengkalis, was deemed to be a suitable site, but this had its objection
as to situation; and after coasting about these seas for some little
time, Sir Stamford Raffles finally fixed upon the island of Singapore
for an entrepot for trade, and the wisdom and sagacity displayed by him
in this selection has been abundantly proved.
Sir Stamford Raffles concluded the treaty with the native chiefs for the
cession of the island to Great Britain, and the British flag was planted
on the island on the same day that the treaty was signed, viz., the 19th
February, 1819, but it has since been found to have been actually signed
on the 6th of that month.
Our new possession, some 600 miles from Batavia, then contained in round
numbers about 120 Malays and 30 Chinese. Some of these lived wholly in
their boats at the mouth of the river, and the remainder in huts at
Teloh Blangah, on the south side of the island. In the course of a year
the population had risen to 5,000, and in little more than five years to
19,000 or 20,000 of all nations actively engaged in commerce, "offering
to each and all a handsome livelihood and abundant profit." When the
census was taken in 1881 the population had risen to 139,208, and in
1891 there was an increase of 45,346, making a total of 184,554,
representing nearly every nationality and tribe in the Indian
Archipelago, China, and India, and about 1,500 Europeans.
In the year 1822, the first settlers to dwell on the island were traders
in the Archipelago, and they lived in raft houses, so called, or more
probably in huts, erected on poles in the Malay style, and these were
located on the site of the present "Commercial Square," which was then
little more than a mud flat covered by the sea at high water. One of the
first steps taken by the Government was to fill up this low-lying sea
marsh, which was executed by free labour, but was subsequently largely
assisted by some local prisoners who were confined in a temporary jail
near by, on the site where the present Court-house now stands. The first
magistrates to be appointed in the settlement, and who tried and
sentenced these prisoners, were men whose names will ever be preserved
unforgotten by the colony, and we make no excuse in giving them in full
as obtained from _The Anecdotal History_, viz., Messrs. A. L. Johnstone,
D. A. Maxwell, D. F. Napier, A. F. Morgan, John Purvis, Alexander
Guthrie, E. Mackenzie, W. Montgomery, Charles Scott, John Morgan, C. R.
Read, and Andrew Hay. Two magistrates sat in court with the Resident
Councillor, to decide cases both civil and criminal, and juries were
formed of five Europeans, or four Europeans and three leading natives.
This court sat once a week, but a court of two magistrates sat twice a
week to try cases, their office being open daily to hear complaints.
The insecurity of the temporary prison mentioned above, and the defects
in its control, led to changes in its structure and general management.
The Resident, then Mr. J. Crawford, expended $900 towards the
construction of a more substantial building for the local prisoners, the
transmarine convicts from Bencoolen and India having not yet arrived in
the settlement. In April, 1823, as there was a great difficulty in
obtaining free labour, the local prisoners were ordered to work upon the
public roads.
When finally leaving the settlement, Sir Stamford Raffles entered into a
new agreement with the Sultan and Tummongong of Johore, by which the
whole of the island of Singapore and the adjacent islands were to be
considered as entirely British territory. He considered this fresh
agreement necessary on account of some peculiar ideas that were held at
the time by certain dissentients.
On his final departure from Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles received an
address from the European and native merchants of Singapore, from which
we quote the following significant extract:
"To your unwearied zeal, your vigilance, and your comprehensive
views, we owe at once the foundation and maintenance of a
settlement, unparalleled for the liberality of the principles
on which it has been established--principles, the operation of
which has converted in a period short beyond all example a
haunt of pirates into the abode of enterprise, security, and
opulence."
Sir Stamford replied with his characteristic modesty in a letter dated
Singapore, June 9th, 1823. The letter is too long to quote _in
extenso_, but we give the following extracts from it. After
acknowledging the receipt of their address, and remarking upon the
impossibility of his being indifferent to any of the interests,
especially the commercial interests, of Singapore, under the peculiar
circumstances of his connection with the establishment of the
settlement, he says, "It has happily been consistent with the policy of
Great Britain, and accordant with the principles of the East India
Company, that Singapore should be established as a 'free port,' and that
Singapore will long, and always remain a free port, and that no taxes on
trade or industry will be established to check its future rise and
prosperity, I can have no doubt." "I am justified in saying thus much on
the authority of the Supreme Government of India, and on the authority
of those who are most likely to have weight in the councils of our
nation at home."
Referring to difficulties which had to be encountered on the
establishment of the freedom of the port, he says, "In the commanding
station in which my public duty has placed me, I have had an opportunity
of, in a great measure, investigating and determining the merits of the
case, and the result renders it a duty on my part, and which I perform
with much satisfaction, to express my most unqualified approbation of
the honourable principles which actuated the merchants of Singapore on
that occasion."
We give the above extracts to show the rapid advance that had been made
in the first five years of the settlement's existence, owing mainly to
the sagacity, forethought, and wisdom of its eminent founder, and we
have added the population up to this period to show its steady rise and
progress.
It was, however, in January, 1824, that the first regular census was
taken. The population then consisted of 74 Europeans, 16 Armenians, 15
Arabs, 4,580 Malays, 3,317 Chinese, 756 natives of India, and 1,925
Bugis, making a total of 10,683. It was in this year that Singapore was
first mentioned in the House of Commons, in a remark made by Mr.
Canning, who had been nominated Governor-General of India in 1822, but
did not go out to that country, that "Singapore in six years would
produce spices sufficient for the consumption of Great Britain and her
colonies"--a prophecy not yet fulfilled.
In May of the same year the Resident made a voyage round the island in
the ship _Malabar_, 380 tons burden, to view the boundary of the island
and to take formal possession; and it was while on this voyage that the
British flag was planted on the island of "Pulo Obin," an island which
has since largely supplied the town of Singapore with granite for making
roads and also for building purposes. The Government quarries situated
upon it were subsequently worked almost entirely by transmarine
convicts, of which more will be said hereafter.
[Illustration: ORIGINAL HUTS FOR CONVICTS, SINGAPORE
(From _Life of Sir Stamford Raffles_).
_Plate IX._]
On the 18th of April, 1825, the first batch of convicts transported
from India to Bencoolen were transferred from there to Singapore. They
arrived in the brig _Horatio_, and consisted of 80 convicts transported
from Madras, of whom 73 males and 1 female were for life, and 6 male
convicts on short sentences. On the 25th of the same month another batch
was received, also convicts from Bencoolen. These consisted of 122
convicts transported from Bengal, of whom 88 males and 1 female were for
life, and 33 for short terms. When these Indian convicts were landed at
Singapore they were placed at first in an open shed, or godown (from the
Malay word "godong," a shed), which stood on the site where the present
public offices stand, with only four free petty officers, or "peons,"
natives of Chittagong in the Bengal presidency, in charge of them.
Subsequently temporary buildings, to contain 1,200 to 2,000 convicts,
were erected near the Hindu temple, then situated near the Brass Basa
Canal, and at a considerable cost it is given as £13,199 (see Plate
IX.). They were all located in these sheds, and there was little or no
prison control over them; only, occasionally, an officer of the police
came and called the roll in order to report to Government that all were
present. These convicts were afterwards detailed to the work of filling
up the mud flat before referred to as the site of the present
"Commercial Square." For this purpose they carried the soil from near the
Hindu temple and from Pearls Hill. Mr. Bonham, the Resident, finding
that the convicts worked willingly, and were well behaved, discharged
the free "peons," or warders, and selected five Madrasees and five
Bengalees from their number to supervise their fellow-convicts. This
was, as far as we gather, the first trial of the system of convict
warders at Singapore, possibly the first venture of the kind made in any
penal establishment. As convicts continued to arrive from India, many of
those from Bencoolen were constituted warders over their fellows, in the
proportion of one warder to every twenty convicts. Each warder was
granted a monthly wage of $3.00 in addition to his rations and clothing,
with the usual blanket given to each convict once a year. In addition to
his ordinary rations, clothing, and annual blanket, each convict
received a monthly allowance of 50 cents (say 2s.) a month, to
purchase condiments and salt. A European overseer was placed in
immediate charge of the convicts, and a Superintendent over the whole
convict establishment, this responsible duty first falling upon
Lieutenant Chester, of the Bengal Native Infantry.
The convicts from Bencoolen were not sent over to the Straits of Malacca
in chains, but those received from India in the earliest times were
manacled with light leg fetters, in which they had to work for a
probationary period of three months. As, however, they were granted,
equally with the others, the privilege of going about the town to make
their purchases, it is said they ceased to consider their fetters a
mark of degradation, being so completely overwhelmed with the thought of
banishment from their country and kindred; and to many men of caste it
must be remembered that transportation alone was a severe punishment.
In the year 1826 there was a change of government in the settlements.
Hitherto the settlements of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore had not been
incorporated under one government. In this year it was decided by the
Supreme Government to do so, and the seat of government was fixed at
Penang, that being our oldest settlement in these seas. On this change
taking place, many more of the Indian convicts from Penang were sent
down to Singapore, the ship _Esperanza_ bringing down a further batch of
23 Bengal life convicts (males), and 26 Madras convicts (males), and 1
female; 31 Bombay (males), and 2 female convicts.
From the accounts given in the newspapers of that day, the convicts were
at this time treated with great indulgence if of proved good behaviour,
being permitted, after their work was over, to engage themselves as
servants to the residents, who, in the scarcity of labour at that time,
and the fitness of the convicts for such service, were content to give
them a very liberal wage. In the early days of penal colonies this has
not infrequently occurred, and some of these old convicts have been
known to amass considerable sums of money, and, indeed, to become
possessed of landed property in the town. The Government, however,
under Major Campbell, who succeeded Lieutenant Chester, took care to
exact from them a large amount of useful work in the filling up of
swampy ground near the town, and laying out plots of land for building
purposes. They also blasted the rocks at the mouth of the Singapore
river, on the site of which was afterwards constructed a fort, named
after the first Resident, Mr. Fullerton, and much of the rock was also
used in the construction of the sea and river walls adjoining. Their
services were also turned to account on any occasion when the presence
of a body of men under discipline was required, such as the suppression
of fires. An instance is given in the journal already quoted of a
serious outbreak of fire in Market Street, in the year 1830, which
threatened to consume the houses in several streets adjoining. There
were no fire engines in those days, and the only supply of water was
carried in buckets by the convicts, which materially helped to subdue
it. The houses in the square at the back of Market Street were not
burnt; they, and also the houses on the side of Market Street next the
square, were partly built of brick, but those on the opposite side were
wholly of wood, and were quickly destroyed. The middle of the square was
covered with goods carried from the burning houses.
Occasionally, even in those days, convicts were employed as orderlies
and servants to public officers, and when Dr. Oxley's house was
attacked by burglars in 1821, his Indian convict servant, though wounded
by a "kris," succeeded in capturing the burglar, who turned out to be a
Malay pirate from Bencoolen. Robbery on land was not common amongst
Malays in those days, but piracy was one of their pastimes, and their
romances always glorify their ancestors in this pursuit.
The rules at that time in force amongst the convicts were what were
known as the "Penang Rules," already mentioned, and published in 1827;
but there were also a few scattered rules known as the "Bencoolen
Rules," probably some of those drawn up by Sir Stamford Raffles, and
referred to in his letter of the 20th September, 1823, and incorporated
with the former.
In 1832 an alteration in the seat of government took place. Penang had
hitherto been the seat of government, but in this year it was
transferred to Singapore, which had by this time become the most
important of the three Settlements.
When later on, in the year 1833, Mr. G. D. Coleman was placed in charge
of the convicts as "Surveyor and Executive Officer of Government," a
great improvement was set on foot in the regular and systematic
employment of these convicts. He, by their means, reclaimed large plots
of land as intakes from the sea and river marshes, and largely extended
the town lots, so that Captain Begbie, who in that year wrote a book
upon the Straits Settlements, stated that "200 of these convicts, in
eight months, at a small money outlay of $500 for covered drains, had
reclaimed 28 acres of marsh, and intersected it with roads. This land
was shortly afterwards sold at a handsome price, and was very quickly
covered with good, substantial upper-story houses, which were readily
let."
Under Mr. Coleman the public roads on the sea front were marked out and
constructed, and also the main road from the town to Campong Glam, now
known as North and South Bridge Roads. He surveyed and marked out the
first country road towards Bukit Timah, and he afterwards laid out the
Serangoon, the New Harbour, Budoo, and Thompson's Roads, and employed
Indian convicts principally in their construction. When the convicts
could not be marched out to and from their daily work to the prison,
owing to the long distance they had to traverse, Mr. Coleman constructed
for them temporary buildings, surrounded by a fence, similar to those
already described when treating of Province Wellesley and Malacca. In
these "commands" they were located until the work on which they were
employed was completed; and in many cases these "commands," as they were
always called, became permanent stations for the convicts employed in
maintaining the roads. At first their rations were sent out to them from
town once a month, but subsequently it was found desirable for them to
attend the general muster at the main prison on the first of every
month, and to receive their rations then, and to be inspected at the
same time by the Superintendent.
The records of the jail at this time, and until the year 1844, have not
been kept, as we have said, with any precision, and, indeed, most of
them are missing; but the excellent work performed by Mr. Coleman (in
the execution of which he, as far as possible, employed convict labour)
is, fortunately, to be seen in the map of the town and its environs
surveyed by him in 1836, and lithographed in Calcutta the same year, a
copy of which is given in Moor's _Notices of the Indian Archipelago_.
Mr. Coleman was no mean architect. It was he who designed the first
church for Singapore. It was erected on the site where the present
cathedral stands. It was completed in 1837, and consecrated in
September, 1838, but was opened for service on the 18th June, 1837, by
the first chaplain appointed from Bengal, the Rev. Edmund White. Indian
convicts were employed in the erection of this church, chiefly as
labourers, as they were also at the public buildings which were erected
about this time, notably the first extension of the Raffles Institution
and its museum.
To Mr. Coleman, however, the colony is chiefly indebted for the many
excellent roads on the island, and the carrying out of the disposition
of town allotments, projected in the first instance by Sir Stamford
Raffles himself, in his instructions to the Committee appointed for the
purpose shortly after the settlement was founded.
Mr. G. D. Coleman died on the 27th March, 1885, and the newspapers of
the day, in regretting his death, brought about by hard work and
exposure in the public service, spoke in the highest terms of his
ability as an architect and surveyor, and Superintendent of Convicts.