sailors, rough men of many nations, came ashore intent on pleasure and a gay time after long voyages. To cater for them saloons and boarding-houses abounded, some of decidedly ugly reputation; and they did a roaring business in Hongkong town. Fights, in which knives and pistols were sometimes used, were of frequent occurrence, for here gathered men who were of the veriest riff-raff of society in Europe and America. Some of the more desperate among them joined Chinese corsairs, preying on the shipping of the South China waters, and armed robbers were so bold that they even entered Government House, banks, and mercantile establishments, while two high officials were murdered when they attempted to defend their homes. All in all, the policeman's lot in early Hongkong was, in the words of an old song, not a happy one. It is nor suprising that word began to go round that the police were in collusion with the bandits, causing an historian to record that the Police Force had «sunk into the most wretched and ineffective condition such as admitted of robberies occurring nightly and people being often knocked down in the centre of the town in the middle of the day» 86.

Something drastic had to be done, and it is to the credit of Mr. Grande-Pré that he obtained permission to secure the assistance of police officers from Macao, who helped the Hongkong authorities until Mr. Charles May, sent from London, where he was an Inspector of the Metropolitan Police, was able to reorganize the Hongkong Police Force and introduce some semblance of order and discipline.

For a while, Mr. Grande-Pré's assistance in the reorganization of the Police Force was recognized. He was promoted to the position of Assistant Superintendent of Police and even as Superintendent of Police -- the only time this important post in Hongkong has been held by a foreigner.

But time passed and, sad to relate, the memory of Mr. Grande-Pré's valuable work soon faded. He appears to have become one of the earliest victims in Hongkong of that unfair racial discrimination so wrongly practised in after years in British Colonial administration, as may be deduced from brief glimpses into his career:

«On the 1st August, 1855, Mr. Alexandre Grande-Pré was appointed to the office of Assistant Superintendent of Police