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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 16TH MARCH, 1895.
Neither was the supply of English-speaking Chinese Police and Chinese and English-speaking Indians sufficient.
Increased attention to the Police School is the remedy for this.
10. The year so fruitful in extraordinary occurrences produced the only economic strike that, as far as I am aware, has ever occurred in this Colony.
year
On the 16th of October the carpenters and joiners in the Colony struck for higher wages and diminished hours of work. They did not state what increase of wages they wanted, but they asked that their hours of work should be from 7 A.M. to 5 P.M. with 1 hour off in the middle of the day all the round, instead of from 7 A.M. to dusk in winter and 6 a.m. to dusk in summer and only an hour off in the middle of the day. The masters of carpenters' shops and contractors refused to grant these terms and the men went out on strike.
The strikers were, of course, not interfered with till they put themselves on the wrong side of the pale of the law by interfering with certain carpenters who had returned to work.
This led to arrests and convictions, and the strike ended without the strikers having gained their object. It lasted in all two weeks and a half.
11. The Dogs Ordinance has continued to work smoothly. During the year, 1,825 dogs were licensed on payment of the fee and 32 as watch dogs. 61 strayed and unclaimed dogs were destroyed, Only 11 cases of dog-bite were reported to the Police, which shews a marked decrease on the number in previous years.
12. Complaints on the part of the public have, as in the year 1893, been chiefly directed to the annoyance and interruption to traffic caused by cracker firing and Chinese processions in the streets. I have to repeat the opinion that the granting of permits for these native amusements should be placed in the hands of the Executive Police.
It seems not only anomalous but distinctly unfair to this Department that without any previous reference to it by the organisers of such demonstrations (who, in this case, I understand, were a mixed committee) the City should be allowed to be invaded by a host of processionists as it was on the occasion of the Feast of Lanterns in March last, when the crowd was so dense in the Queen's Road that not only was all chair and jinricksha traffic suspended, but pedestrians were unable to force their way through the seething mass of holiday makers.
During an entire forenoon brokers and other business men were unable to pursue their business avocations, and the Police placed in the streets to endeavour to keep order were overwhelmed in the flood of human beings that not only filled the entire roadway but covered the pavement on both sides of it.
Complaints against mendicancy in the streets and the regulation of traffic have not been so frequent. An attempt has been made to improve the latter by establishing stands at convenient places for chairs and jinrickshas.
Very little success has attended the efforts to keep pedestrians and especially coolies carrying burdens to the sides of the roads.
Nothing but increased carriage traffic will, I fear, effectually keep them off the roadways.
13. The conduct of the Force during the year has on the whole been very satisfactory, although I regret to say that one sergeant and one temporary acting sergeant were reported for intemperance. The latter was dismissed.
The number of reports made against European Members of the Force was 74-the same as last year. Of these 10 were for drunkenness as against 19 in the previous 12 months, 3 for disorderly conduct, assault and fighting, and 3 for sitting down on duty as against 9 and 7, respectively, in 1893. On the other hand there were 12 reports for neglect of duty and 10 for asleep on duty (one man was reported twice for the latter offence) as against 5 and 6 in the previous year.
Against men of the Indian Contingent there were 214 reports as against 278 in 1893.
Of these 18 were for drunkenness as against 25 in 1893; 25 for disorderly conduct, assault and fighting as against 27, 41 for neglect of duty as against 51, 17 for absence from duty or beat and late for duty as against 56, 39 for gossiping, sitting down and idling on duty as against 23, 15 for asleep on duty as against 16, 5 for leaving beat before being relieved as against 9.
Amongst Chinese Constables there were 397 reports as against 363 in 1893.
It must be mentioned, however, that the Chinese Force was kept up to its full strength throughout the year.
I regret to say there were 2 cases of drunkenness. The increases were in 161 reports as against 115 in the previous year for the offences of absence from duty or beat, and late for duty, and in 6 reports for leaving beat before being relieved as against 1 report for this offence in 1893.
There was a decrease of from 54 to 35 for gossiping on duty, sitting down and idling on duty, and from 52 to 48 for asleep on duty. 1 European constable was convicted by the Magistrate for assault. 1 Chinese constable of allowing a prisoner to escape. 1 Chinese of unlawful possession of a bag of sugar, and 4 Chinese (a Water Police boat's crew) of misconduct as Police constables in trying to extort money.