European businessmen went to Hong Kong to do business. They were referred to as tai-pans or "bigshot". One of the more notable Tai-pan hangout spots was the Hong Kong Club at Queen's Road. Education In 1861, Frederick Stewart would become the founder of Hong Kong education system bringing Western-style pedagogy to the East. Some have argued that his contribution is the key turning point between the group of Chinese that were able to modernise Hong Kong versus the group that did not in China. The education would bring Western-style finance, science, history, technology into the culture. The father of modern China, Sun Yat-sen was also educated in Hong Kong's Central School. Law and order In 1843 the legislative council was established. The governor of Hong Kong generally served as the British plenipotentiary in the far east in the early years. The Colonial Secretary would also assist in legal matters. A colonial police force was established in the 1840s to handle the high crime rate in Hong Kong. By China's standards, colonial Hong Kong's code of punishment was considered laughably loose and lenient. The lack of intimidation may have been the leading cause for the continual rise in crime. Po Leung Kuk became one of the first organisations established to deal with the abduction of women and prostitution crisis. Crime at sea was also common as some pirates had access to cutlasses and revolvers. Court sessions for criminal and admiralty matters were first held on 4March 1844 under the aegis of the first governor, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pottinger and the Lieutenant-governor George D'Aguilar. Pandemics and disasters The Third Pandemic of bubonic plague broke out in China in the 1880s. By the spring of 1894 about 100,000 were reported dead in the mainland. In May 1894 the disease erupted into Hong Kong's overcrowded Chinese quarter of Tai Ping Shan. By the end of the month, an estimated 450 people died of the illness. At its height, the epidemic was killing 100 people per day, and it killed a total of 2,552 people that year. The disease was greatly detrimental to trade and produced a temporary exodus of 100,000 Chinese from the colony. Plague continued to be a problem in the territory for the next 30 years. In the 1870s a typhoon hit Hong Kong one evening reaching its height by midnight. An estimated 2,000 people lost their lives in a span