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Local Forces and Civil Defence Services
THE Colony's Auxiliary Defence Services consist of the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force, the Auxiliary Police Force and the Essential Services Corps. The Auxiliary Police, created during 1957 by a merger of the Hong Kong Police Reserve and the Special Constabulary, is dealt with in Chapter 13. The Essential Services Corps, although legally an entity, is split for adminis- trative and practical purposes into four autonomous Services : the Units of the Essential Services Corps proper, the Auxiliary Medical Service, the Civil Aid Services, and the Auxiliary Fire Service.
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All these services are paid for from funds voted each year by the Legislative Council and are now made up entirely of volunteers. In 1951 compulsory service for locally-resident citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies was introduced and remained in force until abandoned in August 1961. Service in the auxiliary defence units is a considerable commitment not only to the individual concerned but also to his employer, and it is fortunate that on the whole employers have been, and still are under the voluntary system, most co-operative in releasing members of their staff for these duties, even at substantial inconvenience.
In March the Governor announced the decision to abandon compulsory service. By the end of June all persons who wished to leave any of the services had been allowed to take their dis- charge. Thus ended a system of recruitment that had been in force for nine years. There had always been more volunteers than conscripts in the auxiliary defence services, although many had originally been enlisted as conscripts owing to the system then current. These volunteers have maintained the strengths of most of the services.
Except for small administrative and training staffs, the auxiliary services are manned entirely by residents of the Colony, who lead or attend training classes and exercises in the evenings or at the