Reminiscences of the Straits Settlements. 155 
study old landmarks whenever possible to compare them with similar stud‘es 
Thad made in the Straits. In researches on these lines whatever spare time was 
available was instructingly occupied, and an opportunity afforded of relaxing 
one’s brain and of turning one’s thoughts from the not too elevating atmosphere 
of the Magistrate’s Court in which my days were then spent. 
Tar Picram FRATERNITY. 
It is not my intention to contrast the life in British Guiana with the life in the 
Far East but the similarity in the countries seem to me to warrant a passing 
reference especiallv as the selection of men from here is a tribute to the training 
received of which the planter here may well be proud. The Singapore of my 
day in so far as the place itself is concerned was not very different to what it 
is now. The town teemed with Chinese who formed the bulk of the population. 
In street after street their signboards were everywhere. Many of the most 
influential merchants were Chinese while as for the labour it was almost entirely 
in hands of the pigtail fraternity. Klings as the natives of Madras are called 
were to be seen as drivers of hackney carriages and some few stalwart natives 
of Northern India enjoyed an enforced residence on the island (having been 
deported there when the prats were under Indian rule). As for the Malays 
they carried on the fishing trade, joined the police force or took up a seafaring 
life for which they were admirably fitted. The police force was composed of 
all nationalities but in the ranks were very few Chinese as they were more useful 
in the Detective Department. The Madrassis and Malays predominated and 
those Inspectors who were of these races proved admirable and effective officers. 
There was an Inspector General, Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents 
and Inspectors, the headquarters being in Singapore. The work of the 
police was by no means a sinecure. It is true that they were not constantly 
drilled as a whole, and no doubt were not as smart on parade as some other 
police forces I have had experience of, but they were able to devote most of 
their time to the more serious work of their department. 
THE SECRET SOCIETIES. 
Tn the towns such as Singapore and Penang, the Chinese Secret Societies, and 
the holders of the opium and spirit licences afforded ample work. There were 
three secret Societies whose power for good or evil was immense. The members 
practically meant the whole Chinese population with not a few Malays who were 
attracted by the support given them when they succeeded, as they often did, in 
coming within the clutches of the law. The history of the formation of the 
Secret Societies and their original objects is too wide a subject to be dealt 
with in a papersuch as this. Suffice it to say that the three I have referred to 
were rivals to each other but confederates when the Government was opposed. 
So perfect was their organisation that if an edict went forth to ‘ boycott,” as 
it would be now called, every shop in the place closed its doors within a few 
hours of the issue of the order. No business was done, food could not be 
bought and the town was soon reduced to a state of almost starvation. If two 
members of rival factions seriously quarrelled and the dispute arose in the 
quarter occupied by the members of the Society to which one of the disputants 
belonged, the other fared badly. If he managed to escape he went to his own 
