W. D. Bayliss

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."

[Koch.

CATHEDRAL, SINGAPORE.

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.

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.

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.

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:—

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.

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.

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:—

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.

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.