Chapter 17: Local Forces and Civil Defence Services
THE Colony's Auxiliary Services comprise the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force, the Police Auxiliaries and the Essential Services Corps. The Police Auxiliaries, which were recon- stituted during 1957 by a merger of the Hong Kong Police Reserve and the Special Constabulary, are dealt with in Chapter 13 (see pages 230, 231). The Essential Services Corps, although legally an entity, is split for administrative and practical purposes into four autonomous Services: the Units of the Essential Services Corps proper, the Civil Aid Services, the Auxiliary Fire Service and the Auxiliary Medical Service.
All these services, which consist partly of volunteers and partly of persons enrolled since the introduction in 1951 of compulsory service for locally resident citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, are financed from funds voted annually by the Legislative Council. Service in the auxiliary defence units is in many cases a considerable commitment not only to the individual concerned but also to his employer, and it is fortunate indeed that on the whole employers are most co-operative in releasing members of their staff for these duties, even at considerable inconvenience.
Except for small administrative and training staffs, the Auxiliary Services are manned entirely by citizens of the Colony who lead or attend training classes and exercises in the evenings or at the week-ends, and in the case of certain services attend more extended training at annual camps last- ing up to fifteen days.
Training obligations vary from service to service. The greatest commitment is in those units where members must attend every year at least sixty instructional parades of one