Chapter VI
SINGAPORE (Continued)

During the year 1845 the Bukit Timah Road was opened up by convict labour between Bukit Timah and Kranji, so that the produce hitherto carried by water to Singapore from the neighbouring country of Johore could now be brought into town by road, while at the same time land was thus opened up for cultivation. The convicts were also employed in this year in constructing a road to the summit of Telok Blangah Hill, now called Mount Faber, for the purpose of building there a signal station, that upon the island of Blakan Mati having proved unhealthy, due, as it was said at the time, to malaria from the enclosed marsh at the back of the island, and to the tainted air from decaying pine-apple leaves, which were left by the Malays, who cultivated the fruit upon all the available soil. Pine-apple growing has been largely extended in this island, as is now generally known at home; and as it is a source of some wealth to the colony, it may be incidentally mentioned in this running history of the place, and more particularly in reference to the fact that the Indian convicts upon ticket of leave have been often employed in its culture in order to earn a daily wage. The plant that produces the pine-apple known as the "ananas," or by the Malays as "nanas," grows literally wild upon the hills on Blakan Mati Island, and other islands round about Singapore. It delights in a moist climate, and here it has it to perfection, with just enough heat to help its growth. There is little or no trouble in its propagation, for after the apple is sufficiently ripe and cut, the crown that surmounts the fruit is planted, and a new plantation soon springs up. There is, however, some difference in the sweetness and flavour of the fruit, according to the exposure to which it is subjected, those having the benefit of the sun being preferred.

The first to export the tinned fruit to Europe was a Frenchman named Bastiani,[5] who succeeded far beyond his expectations, and the industry has since been taken up largely by the Chinese in Singapore and Johore.

Yet another of the important public works of the colony, upon which the labour of Indian convicts was employed some five years earlier, was at the construction of the lighthouse on "Pedro Branca," called the "Horsburgh," after the celebrated hydrographer of that name. The design was by Thompson, and the selection of the site by Sir Edward Belcher, R.N., and most of the detail work was under the direct supervision of Mr. J. Bennett, a civil and mechanical engineer, who afterwards, as we have said, played a prominent part in the direction and control of the labour and industrial training of the Indian convicts in the Singapore jail. He had, as an assistant, Mr. Magaelhaens of the Convict Department, and both the officers and the convicts lived on board of a "Tonkong," or a large boat, which was anchored close to the rock. The convicts were chiefly employed in the capacity of blasters and dressers of stone. The foundation stone was laid with masonic honours by the Worshipful Master Brother M. F. Davidson, on the 24th May, 1850, in the presence of the Governor, Colonel Butterworth, and a large party from Singapore; and the work was completed and the lamps lighted on the 27th September, 1851.

The Free Press spoke of it as an edifice of which Singapore might well be proud. "The granite blocks which form the walls were quarried and shaped at Pulo Ubin, the timber used in the building was the growth of our island, the brass rails of the staircases were moulded and turned in this settlement, and last, not least, the architect and engineer acquired the skill and experience which enabled him to erect so rapidly the chaste and stately building during a long and useful career as Government Surveyor at Singapore." Both the quarrying of the stone at Pulo Ubin, and the felling of the timber required in the erection of this lighthouse, were by the work of Indian convicts.

In 1845 the foundation stone of a second lighthouse was laid on a reef near a small island at the eastern entrance to the Straits of Malacca called "The Coney." It was also laid with masonic honours by the Worshipful Master and Brethren of the Lodge Zetland in the East, No. 748, in the presence of the Governor, Colonel Butterworth, and many of the British and foreign residents at Singapore. This lighthouse was named after the eminent founder of the settlement, Sir T. Stamford Raffles, and was completed in 1856. It was built by free labour, but many convicts were employed, as at the "Horsburgh," as stone cutters, blasters, and as labourers, under the charge of an officer of the Convict Department.

We have referred elsewhere to the rules that had from time to time been framed for the control of these Indian convicts, but now we are able to state that in 1845-46 what may be called the most complete code of rules was permanently established. Colonel Butterworth, who was then Governor of the Straits Settlements, in consultation with the Superintendent of the Convicts, collected all that had been previously issued, together with those that subsequent experience had shown to be necessary, and working on the principles laid down by Sir Stamford Raffles, the new set of "Rules and Regulations for the Management of the Indian Convicts" was formally sanctioned, and put in force under the title of the "Butterworth Rules."

These rules practically recognised the total abolition of free warders in the control of the convicts, and the substitution entirely of petty officers, raised from amongst the convicts themselves, together with the division of the convicts into six distinct classes, according to their date of arrival in the prison, and their general subsequent behaviour; holding out to one and to all by exemplary conduct during their probationary period a certain progressive reward and promotion.