Reminiscences of the Straits Settlements. 159 
Eventually the secret was known. A Chinese pork butcher had a shop in 
which were exposed joints of pork forsale. A customer went up and asked 
for half a pound paying nut the market price, but twice or three times as 
much. A knife was handed to him and he was asked to cut off any part he 
liked-—to please himself in his selection. The customer took the knife and 
carefully cut off what he considered was half a pound of meat. This was 
weighed if it was exactly the weight be got the arranged stakes: if it was 
not accurate he had paid the enbanced price for his meat. You will 
recognise the simplicity of the proceedings and the difficulty of detection. 
CHARACTERISTICS oF Prnana. 
Pei.ang although much smaller than Singapore had the same characteristics. 
The hill as now, no donbt, was its great feature and many a weary and heat- 
oppiessed individual took a week-end near the summit in the Bungalow to 
recuperate, (Cn the main and opposite Penang is Province Wellesley, a strip 
uf territory obtained from the Rajah of Kedah. The principal products of the 
Province were sugar and tapioca which as here necessitated the importation 
of East Indian labour. In the case of the Straits the labour was irom Southern 
India. Of course Chinese were also employed on the estates but as they 
laboured under their own headmen, the authorities dealt directly with those. 
Nevertheless troubles were by no means infrequent for the Chinese Coolie 
requires to be well fed and any shortcoming in this respect was forcibly 
resented. Gang robberies which were very prevalent aJ! through the 
Straits were a source of great anxiety to the police in the outiying 
districts. As there were no telegraph or telephone facilities intimation o! 
special occurrences such as murders, riots o: gang robberies was made 
by means of the cannon with which every police station was 
provided. One, two or three siygnsls indicated what had _ taken 
place and was repeated by each station—thus reaching headquarters. 
The sound was followed up so to speak, all forces concentrating at the station 
from which the sound originated and at which such steps as were possible had 
already been taken. As gang robberies were of course carefully planned, news 
seldom reached the police until the perpetrators had decamped with their booty. 
Tf the scene was near the frontier little could be doneat the time except 
attend to the wounded or arrange for inquesisif any person had been killed, 
and gathering such information as would be usefu! in the future in aid of de- 
tecting, arresting aud punishing the perpetrators who had ere the areiva) of 
the police, “ gone over tbe border.” 
GanGc ROBBERIES. 
As each village ‘‘Pungulhu ” or headman collected Maiays to accompany 
him to the trysting-place there were plenty +o follow up any traces and a general 
idea was soon obtained of the number of men engaged, their nationality. the 
direction from which they came and the direction in which they had gone. In 
some places boundaries were not very clearly defined and occasionally the rob- 
bers were pounced on when they thought they were safe from pursuit. Houses 
of wealthy Chinese were natuially the most frequent objects of the robber fra- 
