LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
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also supply additional staff officers and communications personnel at Colony, district and divisional headquarters in any emergency.
IMMIGRATION
The year was the first full year of operation for the Immigration Department, which came into being on 4th August 1961. The immigration service now functions as a completely independent organization, under the control of the Director of Immigration. The degree of specialization thus achieved resulted in improve- ments in the speed of immigration work in the harbour, at the airport, and at the various offices on shore. As the staff gained experience so business was conducted more smoothly, and it is confidently expected that this trend will continue. The need for a separate service has been amply demonstrated.
By the end of the year, nearly all the staff of the new department had been recruited and had, on the whole, settled down well. A comprehensive training programme was started for uniformed staff, and lectures on a variety of subjects connected with immigra- tion work were regularly given by senior officers. The training pro- gramme, which will be extended as time goes on, is intended to give the staff a wider knowledge of the work of the department to enable them to function more efficiently, and to prepare them for promotion in due course. By the end of March all police officers previously on secondment to the department had returned to the police force.
The year was marked by two notable events. The first of these was the unprecedented flood of persons who forced their way across the frontier during April and May. For a number of years the problems created by overcrowding in Hong Kong and the impossibility of absorbing immigrants in unlimited numbers had made it necessary to restrict the traditional movement of popula- tion between Hong Kong and China. As a result, pressure of entry by clandestine means had for some time posed a serious problem. But in the past this had been largely confined to entry by sea from Macau, and little or no difficulty had been experienced on the land frontier. Toward the end of April however, due, so far as can be judged, to relaxation of control beyond the border, there was a steady and disturbing increase in attempts, mainly by night, to evade police patrols and penetrate the frontier fence. Over 600