HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1953
The increase in accidents involving slight injury and damage is attributable to the increasing traffic congestion and the more punctilious reporting of minor accidents by members of the public.
Immigration. The Force is responsible for the control and operation of the Immigration department. During the year this department issued 17,512 visas, 1,236 British passports and 1,076 renewals, 7,727 Chinese entry permits and 1,388 emer- gency travel certificates.
In addition to their statutory duties the police render a variety of services to the public, and the increasing confidence displayed in the Force is reflected by the large number of reports requesting advice and help. On many occasions the police conveyed parties of the St. John Ambulance Brigade to outlying areas to render simple treatment, dentistry, inocula- tions and vaccinations. In addition, births and deaths were registered, mail delivered, urgent cases of illness conveyed to hospital, and cinema shows provided in schools and villages.
Prisons
The Prisons department consists of a headquarters, which adjoins a central Remand and Reception Prison in Victoria, a large main prison at Stanley, a Training Centre (also at Stanley) for boys and a prison for women at Lai Chi Kok. The male staff consists of Europeans, Pakistanis and Sikhs and local Chinese, and Portuguese. The local staff is now in the majority and all Pakistani and Sikh warders who retired during the year have been replaced by local men. The female staff are all local Portuguese or Chinese.
Headquarters. Until this year, the departmental head- quarters were accommodated in a flat in the married quarters at Stanley. This arrangement was inefficient and undesirable, as the office was ten miles from the centre of Government and occupied scarce living space. Early in the year the head-
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