



Produced by Ronald Lee








PRISONERS THEIR OWN WARDERS

[Illustration: _Frontispiece_

GENERAL MONTHLY MUSTER OF THE CONVICTS, SINGAPORE JAIL.]




  PRISONERS THEIR OWN
  WARDERS

  A RECORD OF THE CONVICT PRISON AT SINGAPORE
  IN THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS ESTABLISHED 1825,
  DISCONTINUED 1873, TOGETHER WITH A
  CURSORY HISTORY OF THE CONVICT
  ESTABLISHMENTS AT BENCOOLEN,
  PENANG AND MALACCA FROM
  THE YEAR 1797


  BY MAJOR J. R A. McNAIR

  _Late Royal Artillery, C.M.G., A.M.I.C.E., F.L.S., and F.R.G.S
  Late Colonial Engineer and Surveyor General and
  Comptroller of Indian Convicts
  Straits Settlements from 1857 to 1877
  Author of "Perak and the Malays"
  (Sarong and Kris)_


  ASSISTED BY W. D. BAYLISS

  _Mem. Soc. Engineers Lond., Late Superintendent of Works and
  Surveys and Superintendent of Convicts, Singapore_


  WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS


  "A willing bondman."
              --SHAKESPEARE
                (_Julius Caesar_, Act I., Sc. 3)


  WESTMINSTER
  ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO
  2 WHITEHALL GARDENS
  1899


  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED




  BUTLER & TANNER,
  THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS,
  FROME, AND LONDON.




[Illustration: DUFFADAR ARJOON, SENIOR PETTY OFFICER
OF ARTIFICERS.

_McNair._]


Preface


Some explanation appears to be due from us for writing this account of
the Singapore Convict Jail so long after the date of its final
abolition.

The truth is, that for several years it has been our opinion that it
ought to be written by some one, and the same suggestion had often been
made to one of us by the late Doctor Mouat, Inspector General of Jails,
Bengal, and others who were well acquainted with its administration.

An opportunity lately occurred to bring us into communication on the
subject, and when we came to compare the voluminous notes that each of
us had collected during the time that the jail was in full vigour, we
arrived at the conclusion that there was abundant material for a work
upon it. It also appeared to us that there were some exceptional
features in the training and discipline of these native convicts, that
might even at this day prove of service to other Superintendents of
native jails in different parts of India and the Colonies; while, at the
same time, such a work would not be devoid of some interest to those who
make a study of the punishment and reformation of the criminal class of
all countries, a subject in regard to which, in spite of the great
progress we have made, the last word has certainly not yet been said.

This, then, is our apology for the attempt we have made, and we trust
that our joint labours may be received with indulgence.

When this old Singapore jail was put an end to in 1873, some six years
after the transfer of the Straits Settlements to the Crown, the convicts
then under confinement were removed to the Andaman Islands, at that time
not long established as a penal settlement for India; while those on a
ticket-of-leave were permitted to merge into the population, continuing
to earn their livelihood as artizans, cow keepers, cart drivers, and the
like. Those who were old and infirm were retained at Singapore at the
expense of the Indian Government, and a certain number of convicts from
Hongkong were returned to that colony to complete their sentences. There
remained, therefore, only the local prisoners to be dealt with, and for
these, under the subsequent orders of the Colonial Government, was
planned and constructed by our Department, and under our supervision, a
spacious prison on the cellular system, and situated on a more healthy
site than the old convict jail, which had become surrounded by the
buildings of the town.

We should much like to have given a consecutive history of this old jail
from the date of its first construction until it was finally abolished,
but unfortunately the jail registers have not been carefully kept from
the beginning, or are not forthcoming; but we have had access to some
old scattered letters and papers, and to statistics from the year 1844,
since which time the records have been regularly kept from year to year.

A good deal of useful information has also come within our reach from
works written upon Singapore and the Straits Settlements, and especially
are we indebted to an _Anecdotal History of Singapore_, published by the
_Free Press_, and extending from the year 1822 to 1856, which gives an
interesting account of our early occupation of that island, and of the
use to which the labour of these convicts was turned.

From the Memoirs of _Sir Stamford Raffles_, written by his widow in
1830, and from his _Life_ by Demetrius Charles Boulger, in 1897, we have