Prisoners their own warders

by John Frederick Adolphus McNair; W. D. Bayliss

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."

CONVICTS STONE-QUARRYING, AT PULO OBIN, SINGAPORE.

Plate XX.

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.