PUBLIC WORKS AND INDUSTRIES
In referring to the variety of public works undertaken by these Indian
convicts, we have hitherto refrained from going into much detail in
regard to them; but we think it will not be without interest to dwell
somewhat more at length, as we have proposed, upon the construction of
the cathedral and the Government House, which still remain as records of
their labour, and spring into the greatest prominence. Of the jail
itself, which, as we have said, was planned and partially carried out by
the late General Man, nothing further need, we think, be added for it is
now dismantled except that it was in truth the training ground for the
artificer gang under that able officer, who saw the absolute necessity
of having some large public work in hand in order to the convicts
acquiring a knowledge of the various trades. This principle in the
management of convicts was advocated by Sir Edmund Du Cane in one of his
pamphlets, in which he judiciously says that "the best system devised
for the employment of convicts is that of executing large public works
by means of their labour."
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL, SINGAPORE.
_Koch._
_Plate XVI._]
As the late General Man had for this purpose the erection of the
permanent jail, so the late Colonel Macpherson planned and laid the
foundations for execution by their labour of St. Andrew's Church, now
the cathedral of the diocese; while to Major McNair fell the duty of
designing and constructing almost wholly by these convicts the house for
the Governor of the colony.
CATHEDRAL[10] (see Plate XVI.).
In preparing the designs of this ecclesiastical edifice, Colonel
Macpherson had to select as simple and easy a form of architecture as he
could, and with as little ornament as possible, and therefore within the
capacity of his workpeople; so he chose the Gothic, or rather, we should
say, the Early English style of about the 12th century, and in so doing
he said he had somewhat reproduced the character of old Netley
Abbey.[11] He laid the foundations, and saw it built up to about three
feet above the ground, and then left for Malacca to take up the
appointment of Chief Civil Officer there, and was therefore not able
further to see the progress of the work that he had inspired. His plans,
however, were carefully followed by his successor, with the exception,
as has already been said, of substituting a spire for a tower, owing to
undue settlement at the tower end. This building is 250 feet long
internally, by 65 feet in width, with nave and side aisles; or, with the
north and south transepts, 95 feet, the transepts being used as
porticoes. The simple columns, with plain mouldings only, carried
arches, on which rested the side walls of the nave, which were run up of
sufficient height to clear the roofs of the aisles, and were perforated
by a range of windows to admit light to the whole building. At the
north-east end of the nave was a great arch leading into a chancel, and
an apse with three lancet windows in stained glass. The building was
roofed with teak timber, with a sarking of lighter wood as a lining to
form a contrast, and then covered with slates imported from England.
Over the main entrance is a vaulted dome, with a neat piece of groining
in granite, also made by the convicts. Leading to the organ loft is a
circular well staircase, made from quarter-inch plate iron, the treads
and risers punched with holes by the punching machine in the work yard
to render them lighter. They were bracketed together, and secured by
screw bolts and nuts. The risers were bent round a two-inch bar of round
iron, which passed down through all of them at the centre from top to
bottom of the staircase. The whole was made and fixed in its place by
the convicts.
[Footnote 10:
Archdeacon and Chaplain, Ven. John Perham; }
Choirmaster, Mr. C. B. Buckley; } 1899.
Organist, Mr. E. Salzmann. } ]
[Footnote 11: Colonel Macpherson had seen as a young man the
ruins of the old church and abbey of Netley, or "Letley," as it
was originally called, from the Latin word "lætus," pleasant,
and the Saxon word "ley," a field, and had been so impressed
with the simple character and proportions of the Early English
style of church architecture, of which this was an excellent
example, that when called upon to plan a new church for
Singapore, he, as we say, chose this as his model.
We have a very good account of Netley Abbey given in 1848 by
George Guillaume, architect, and from his description it was
founded in 1239, and was occupied by monks of the Cistercian
order, who were brought over from a neighbouring monastery at
Beaulieu in the New Forest, where there was already an abbey
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Netley Church was built on a
cruciform plan, and was proportioned according to the ancient
mysterious figure called the "Visica Pisces," as will be seen
in the sketch below from his work.
[Illustration: A Visica Pisces.]
Singapore Church, now, as we have said, the cathedral of the
diocese, has been much admired for its true symmetry and exact
proportion, as well as for the delicate simplicity of its
details.]
As a pattern for the convicts to follow, we built two arches on the
ground, the exact counterpart of those in the building; and, indeed, at
any time when they wanted a guide, we had a model made; and the natives
of India are such wonderful imitators, as we all know, that they soon
were able to follow the copy we had given them. So the work progressed
from day to day, until it was ultimately finished in 1862. We found that
the skill of the convicts never failed them, and their capacity as
builders and carpenters never seemed to slacken.
In dealing with the interior walls and columns, we used what is well
known, though little employed with us in England, "Madras chunam," made
from shell lime without sand; but with this lime we had whites of eggs
and coarse sugar, or "jaggery," beaten together to form a sort of paste,
and mixed with water in which the husks of cocoanuts had been steeped.
The walls and columns were plastered with this composition, and, after a
certain period for drying, were rubbed with rock crystal or rounded
stone until they took a beautiful polish, being occasionally dusted with
fine soapstone powder, and so leaving a remarkably smooth and glossy
surface.
We have given the dimensions of this building, but we may remark that,
owing to the simplicity of its tracery and mouldings, it really appears
much larger than it actually is, and being built on an open space, its
proportions at once strike the eye of every visitor to the colony.
A peal of bells was added to the cathedral in 1889 by the munificence of
Mr. W. H. Read, C.M.G., who, with the late Mr. John Crawfurd, Mr. James
Guthrie, and others, was instrumental in bringing about the transfer
of these settlements to the Crown, and some of their portraits are now
in the Town Hall, including that of Mr. Thomas Scott, then M.L.C.
[Illustration: MORTAR MILL, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, SINGAPORE.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE GARDEN BEING LAID OUT BY CONVICTS.
_Plate XVII._]
GOVERNMENT HOUSE (see Plate XIX.).
We have already mentioned that the transfer of the Straits Settlements
from the direct control of India to the Crown was effected on the 1st
April, 1867. The first Governor under the new _régime_ was Colonel Sir
Harry St. George Ord, R.E., who, upon his arrival in Singapore, had to
take up his abode in a hired house. He therefore lost no time in issuing
orders to purchase land, and to erect a suitable residence for himself
and for the future Governors of the colony. Plans were accordingly
called for from the colonial engineer (Major McNair), and they soon took
shape and were submitted by the Governor to the Legislative Council
without delay; and money was voted for the erection of the building, the
purchase of land, and the ordering of furniture from England. The work
was actually commenced within three months of the Governor's arrival,
the foundation-stone was laid by Lady Ord a month later, and the
building was made ready for the reception of H.R.H. the Duke of
Edinburgh in October, 1869.
The whole of the brick work, exterior plastering, and most of the
flooring and interior work were effected by convict labour; but it
became necessary, towards the last, to employ free labour, to assist in
the flooring, which was executed with battens from the steam sawmills at
Johore, and also in the coffering of the ceilings in the drawing-room
and some plastering in the rear block. The whole of the bricks used were
made by the convicts, and much of the lime and cement was of their
manufacture.
The edifice stands upon a hill in the eastern suburb of the town, about
a mile and a quarter from the cathedral, and is surrounded by nearly 100
acres of ground, which has been tastefully laid out, and planted with
rare plants under successive Superintendents of the Government Botanical
Gardens. The building commands an extensive view of the harbour and
surrounding country, and from the tower the distant islands and mainland
of Johore are distinctly visible. It is supplied with water from the
town water supply,[12] by the use of a hydraulic ram. It was first
lighted with gas, but now by the electric light throughout the whole
building.
[Footnote 12: Also a work which we initiated and brought to
completion on designs approved by the late Sir Robert
Rawlinson, K.C.B.]
[Illustration: GOVERNMENT HOUSE, SINGAPORE, APPROACHING COMPLETION.
_Plate XVIII._]
The house is built somewhat in the shape of a cross. Ascending a flight
of broad steps from the wide portico, you enter a spacious entrance hall
floored with beautiful white marble from Java, having in your direct
front a handsome stone staircase leading up through an arcade to a
half-pace, from which it returns right and left to the lobby above,
which is of the same dimensions as the entrance hall. Off this lobby, on
the eastern wing, is the library, and beyond, the principal bed and
dressing-rooms, and an open verandah over the portico (since regrettably
built in). In the western wing is a double drawing-room, with disengaged
pillars between; and below, off the entrance hall, on the east side, is
the ball-room, and on the west the dining hall and billiard-rooms.
Store-rooms, pantries, and all necessary accommodation were supplied as
in any of our home mansions.
The ground floor of the building is raised four feet from the plateau,
and ample ventilation is provided underneath. The building is 230 ft. in
frontage, and 180 ft. in depth, and the height to the tower is 80 ft.
The style is Ionic upon Doric, with Corinthian pillars and pilasters to
the tower. It is roofed with slates, and the lower floors and verandahs
are paved with marble.
As at the cathedral training for the convicts, so here models of the
pillars and capitals were made on the ground for them to copy, and the
special bricks for mouldings, copings, architraves, and capitals were
made at the convict brick kilns.[13] The plaster work for the exterior
walls was a subject of much consideration with us; and, after various
experiments, we arrived at the following composition, and it has
thoroughly withstood the weather, which, under the trying circumstances
of a rapid succession of damp and heat, was exceptional in that
climate:--
Portland cement 2 parts. }
} Carefully and
White selected sand 1 part. } slowly mixed
} by the
Granite powdered to } } convicts.
dust in small } 2 parts. }
handmills, or } }
querns } }
[Footnote 13: All taught by ourselves to the convicts, with the
assistance of Overseer Callcott, now risen to be Deputy
Colonial Engineer.]
A gift by the Chinese community of a statue of H.M. the Queen was
unveiled with some ceremony at this Government House in the year 1889.
INDUSTRIES (INTRA-MURAL).
We have already enumerated the various trades that were taught to these
Indian convicts, and shall therefore confine our remarks here to a brief
description of some of those productive occupations upon which we
employed their labour both within and without the main jail.
We must, however, make known beforehand, in connection with intra-mural
works, that, attached to the main jail, yet distinctly separated from it
by high walls and a guarded gateway, was a "work-yard," in which were
built shops for carpenters, blacksmiths, coopers, wheelwrights, sawyers,
stone-cutters, and turners in wood and iron.
[Illustration: GOVERNMENT HOUSE, SINGAPORE, COMPLETED.
_McNair._
_Plate XIX._]
In one part of this yard was also a machine shop, in which were fitted
lathes, punching and shearing machines, and a bolt and nut machine, also
a band saw and a circular saw table. To drive this machinery a 12 h.p.
engine was used, and this was placed under the charge of a convict who
had been employed in the engine-room of a P. and O. steamer, and had
gone through his probationary period in the jail. Added to these
machines was one of Blake's stone-crushers to break stone of various
gauges for metalling the roads of the town.
This was the first Indian jail, and we might even go so far as to say it
was amongst the first of any jails, where convicts were employed in
connection with steam power. We had, it is true, an engine to be worked
by manual power, for six or eight men abreast, to drive the circular
saw, but it did not answer. It was intended as "crank" labour for the
convicts.
When Dr. Mouat, the Inspector-General of Jails, Bengal, wrote his annual
report of 1864-65, he said: "I have suggested the introduction of steam
machinery for the spinning of jute yarn, in order that all prisoners
sentenced to rigorous imprisonment may never be without the hard labour
which the jail is bound to provide for them. In this, as in most matters
connected with the organization of prison industry, I have been
anticipated by the authorities at Singapore, there being a steam
saw-mill in use at the Singapore jail, and a pug-mill employed in the
preparation of the clay used in the brick and tile manufactory."
The carpenters made every necessary article required for the public
buildings in progress; even the pulpit, reading-desk, and interior
fittings for the cathedral were the work of their hands. The blacksmiths
had four smithies, and forged, cast, and prepared all kinds of ordinary
iron work found necessary. The coopers made buckets, tubs, and all the
casks for storing cement, and for other jail purposes. The wheelwrights
made all the carts, barrows (hand and wheel), and the hack-barrows
wanted at the brick kilns. The stone-cutters turned out the mouldings,
mullions, capitals, cills, steps, and all that was essential in our
building operations.
Within the jail proper there were shops for tailors, weavers, rattan
workers, coir and rope makers, flag makers, a printing press, and a
photographic studio, and a few draughtsmen for executing plans and
working drawings. The tailors cut out, made, and repaired the clothing
for the fourth and fifth classes, and any other such occupation required
in the prison. The weavers, who worked with an ordinary Indian
hand-loom, made the coarse cloth required for those classes in irons,
and washed, dressed, combed, carded, and spun the raw wool purchased
from the butchers in the town, from which the "kumblies" or coarse
blankets supplied to all the convicts were made. The coir or yarn
manufactured from the husks of cocoanuts was prepared by those employed
at "hard labour" in the refractory ward. From this yarn we made cordage
for the convict boats, mattresses for the hospitals, and matting of
various kinds. The flag makers made up and repaired the flags and
colours for the signal stations, and for the department of the master
attendant. Upon this work female convicts, and feeble men of the sixth
class, were usually employed.
The printing press was established in 1860, and to start it the services
of a Portuguese foreman printer were engaged for a short time to teach
the convicts; and bookbinding was added later on. Photography was taught
by one of us[14] to two intelligent convicts of the Calcutta Baboo class
who wrote English. All convicts had their likeness taken, and were
registered for identification in case of escape; also local prisoners
and men under custody by the police. We had not, of course, the
knowledge then of Mr. Henry's method of identity by means of
"finger-prints," for it was only approved last year by the Government of
India. The draughtsmen, numbering three, executed all the plans and
working drawings for the public works. Those for the cathedral and
Government House, and many other buildings, were drawn by these men, the
principal draughtsman being a convict transported from Bombay of the
name of Babajee. The rattan workers wrought chairs and baskets of all
kinds, fenders for the Government steamers, and signal baskets for the
flagstaff's.
[Footnote 14: Major McNair, who himself supplied both apparatus
and chemicals.]
There were other minor industries carried on within the prison walls, so
that it was a busy scene of task work from one end to the other, for
every one was engaged upon something, and there was no chance for an
idler to do nothing. Nursing a job was quite out of the question.
But we must pass on to deal with the industries beyond the walls, and we
shall limit our description to the making of bricks, lime, and cement,
and the quarrying of stone, and well digging.
INDUSTRIES (EXTRA-MURAL).
It will be quite superfluous to give an account in detail of the method
pursued in brick and tile making, for the process is known to every one.
Suffice it to say that Colonel Faber, R.E., as previously noted, was the
first to introduce the manufacture on Government account; he opened a
place at Rochore, near the present gasworks, and employed free labour.
The system was what is known as the "dry" and sand-moulding system, and
the bricks were burned in clamps. All that could be said of these bricks
was that they were better than those made by the Chinese at that time,
but they were not a success, and the manufacture was after two or three
years given up.
In 1858 we started, on a systematic principle, under a trained European
brick maker, an extensive brick field on the Serangoon Road, about three
miles from the town, where there was a considerable bed of excellent
clay for the purpose. The site, too, was well situated near the banks of
an inlet from the sea, and affording great facility for water carriage,
and with a palm grove close at hand, under the shade of which the
convicts were allowed to roam without restraint when their work was
over. Sheds, kilns, pug-mills, moulding tables, and all the necessary
appliances for hand-made bricks were soon set on foot, and a large
dormitory, surrounded by a stout precinct fence, was built for the
number of convicts required for the manufacture, approximating to about
120 of all classes, except those in irons.
Our process was commonly known as "slop-moulding," each moulder turning
out from 2,500 to 3,000 bricks in the course of the day. After the
second year, when the convicts had become accustomed to the work, and to
adapt themselves to each other, we were able to supply all that were
needed for the public works, and even to export them for works at
Malacca. In tabulating the account of the value of their labour and the
outlay for fuel, and comparing it with the recognised value of the
bricks, there was found to be a credit to the State in most years. (See
Appendix No. 4.)
When, in 1867, there was an Agricultural Exhibition at Agra, in the N.W.
Provinces of India, we sent up specimens of bricks, tiles, drain pipes
of all sizes, and stable flooring bricks, manufactured by these
convicts, for which the Superintendent gained the silver medal; and if
any further proof is needed of the excellent work turned out by these
convicts, we may quote the report of the late Colonel Fraser, of the
Bengal Engineers, which ran as follows:--
"As an Engineer Officer of the D.P.W., I have had a good deal
of experience as regards the management of jails in India and
Burmah, and have, of course, employed much convict labour, but
I have never been in any jail where the arrangements are so
perfect as in that of Singapore. While the discipline under
which the convicts are held is obviously most efficient, the
skill with which their labour is directed will be equally
obvious to all who will take the trouble, as I have done, to go
into the detail of their operations, and look at the results in
the many large works which have been executed at Singapore.
I went over the brick field with Captain McNair, and while I
found that the greatest reasonable amount of work was got out
of each man, I also found that the work turned out was the best
I have seen in India. Where there are good bricks, other work
is seen to be equally good, and when a proper amount of work is
required per convict, then the discipline must be also good; I
measured myself what the men were expected to do, and found it
to be three cubic yards in eight hours. This is the full task
of a European sapper in the same time."
Our lime and cement were made from coral, of which there were extensive
reefs round the Island of Singapore, and some few "atolls" (a Cingalese
word), or special coral islands. Coral is almost a pure carbonate of
lime, and therefore very well suited for the purpose. It was broken up
and heated in kilns constructed for the purpose. The cement was made
from this lime, and from selected clay, in the proportions we had by
careful experiments established, until we obtained a good and
quick-setting article. It was made into small balls and then dried, and
burnt in a special kiln, and afterwards well and finely ground and
sifted by female convicts; its tensile strength was excellent.
[Illustration: CONVICTS STONE-QUARRYING, AT PULO OBIN, SINGAPORE.
_Plate XX._]
STONE QUARRYING (see Plate XX.).
The stone we used for all our building operations was procured from an
island between Singapore East and the mainland of Johore, and was named
Pulo Obin. It is about three miles long and three-quarters of a mile
broad. The stone was the best possible form of crystallised granite,
fine grained, very compact and durable, grey in colour, with here and
there black patches or nodules of hornblende. It occurs in large fluted
boulders, and was wrought by the convicts by fire, or by blasting with
gun-powder, or split by pointed chisels and large hammers. Its weight
was 168 lbs. per cubic foot. The excellent quality of this granite led
the Government of India to approve of the construction by the late
Colonel Eraser, C.B., of several courses for the Alguada Reef
lighthouse, which was built upon a dangerous reef off the coast of
Burmah. Our department looked after the preparation of some of these
courses, and forwarded them by ship to Burmah.
WELL DIGGING.
It is known to everyone how capable the Indians are in the sinking of
wells, and that with many Orientals it is a work of great merit to build
one. As two were required for Fort Canning, we were soon able to select
men fitted for this special work amongst the third class convicts, who,
many of them, begged to be allowed to take part in their construction.
After a careful set of borings, we came upon water at a depth of 180 and
120 feet respectively. They were eventually dug out to these depths, and
steined to six feet in diameter by the use of sound and hard bricks from
the convict kilns. The water rose to a height of 80 feet from the
surface of the ground, and they were provided with lift and force pumps
for the convenience of the troops in garrison. It was a heavy job for
the convicts, but they performed it with eagerness and alacrity.