William Tarrant spent six months in Victoria Gaol for libelling William Caine who ironically was responsible for building the prison.

It is said that an early visitor to Hong Kong once asked a local Chinese the name of the colony's governor. "Major Caine!" was the instant reply. Captain (later Major) William Caine of the 26th Regiment of Foot (the Cameronians) founded the Hong Kong Police Force. He was not the governor. He had fought in the Opium War, became Hong Kong's first Chief Magistrate in 1841 and was, among other things, responsible for law and order in the new British colony. Caine Road is named after him.

He was born in India where he became a boy soldier in the armies of the British Raj. As a military man and a colonial administrator he spent almost half a century serving in Asia. After he retired as Lieutenant-Governor of Hong Kong, he eventually took ship to England.

After the British occupied the island, the population shot up dramatically. Many of the newcomers were undesirable and created a crime wave. Caine remarked that: "nine-tenth of our Chinese subjects and about half our low European inhabitants have been in the most depraved condition."

Unfortunately Caine initially had little knowledge of British common law and hadn't a clue about Chinese law, but he did his best. He had to borrow soldiers from the garrison to act as policemen, which caused numerous problems. In desperation he would often be seen late at night patrolling the streets himself. It was four years before London agreed to provide a Captain Superintendent of Police and at last Caine was able to devote his time to his other administrative duties.

At the time, Hong Kong's expatriates formed a tiny, disgruntled, hotchpotch community where the stern upholders of Victorian morality couldn't fail to rub shoulders with dubious entrepreneurs, opium dealers, pirates, crooks and con-men. This civilian community was so small that saints and sinners couldn't avoid each other and inevitably quarrelled.

William Tarrant was a model civil servant. He was efficient, hard working and incorruptible. He has been described as "more honest than politic" and this admirable trait brought him into direct confrontation with Major William Caine.

Tarrant had discovered that Caine's compradore (Chinese assistant), Lo In Tin, was demanding a squeeze from the stall-holders of Central Market in the Major's name. This was known as "Caine duty money". Being a good, honest, if naive, civil servant, Tarrant reported the crime to his superior.

Instead of being praised for his diligence, Tarrant was suspended from office for "conspiring to injure the character of Major Caine."

Questions were raised in the Houses of Parliament and almost two years later the case against Tarrant was dismissed. Lo In Tin fled the colony and the Secretary of State, Lord Grey, ordered the Hong Kong Government to pay Tarrant two years wages in compensation. This was done, but the Government refused to reinstate Tarrant in the civil service.

Tarrant was justifiably upset. He used his back pay to buy a newspaper called The Friend of China. For the next decade, the embittered Tarrant used every opportunity to revile Caine in his newspaper. In 1859, Caine, now the exalted Lieutenant-Governor, was about to retire to England. Tarrant printed a scathing attack on Caine. It was published the day before Caine was due to leave Hong Kong.

Caine postponed his departure and sued Tarrant for libel. With Machiavellian cunning, he retained the services of every lawyer in Hong Kong and Tarrant was forced to conduct his own defence in court. He was found guilty and sentenced to one year's imprisonment and fined fifty pounds. There was a storm of righteous protest, both in Hong Kong and London, against Caine's ungentlemanly conduct. Tarrant was released after six months in prison and the fine was paid by public subscription.