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THE ARMED SERVICES AND AUXILIARY SERVICES
The Royal Navy employs 440 locally entered Chinese ratings in various capacities, including cooks, stewards, technicians and seamen. But as a consequence of the 1975 United Kingdom Defence Review, by mid-1977 Chinese cooks and stewards will cease to serve in HM ships not based in Hong Kong. Although the proportion of Chinese ratings serving in the ships of Hong Kong Squadron will be increased, this decision will inevitably mean a reduction in the total employed. A further 598 locally recruited seamen and storehousemen serve worldwide in 11 ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service, which provides logistic support for Royal Navy ships. Laundering, tailoring, shoemaking and hairdressing facilities are provided for the fleet by 258 Hong Kong Chinese seagoing civilians. Also, within HMS Tamar, a workforce of 90 civilians is employed, mainly on clerical, storekeeping, transport and labour tasks.
As part of a long-standing tradition, the Royal Navy provides much help to villagers in rural areas, particularly on the Sai Kung and Tolo peninsulas and the nearby islands. This has included general tasks such as the repair of footbridges and children's playground equipment, and also assistance in refurbishing generators and electric cables to restore power and light in Kat O, Ap Chau and Chek Keng. Social and welfare activities have included sea training days for boys from the Hong Kong Sea School and the Stanley Sea School, and assistance to local voluntary organisations with medical and dental treatment.
The Army provides the bulk of the forces in Hong Kong, under the direct com- mand of the Commander British Forces. With the disbandment in December of HQ 51 Infantry Brigade they were concentrated into one formation-the Gurkha Field Force.
Units which were stationed in Hong Kong during 1976 were: the 20 Light Regiment Royal Artillery and C Squadron 1st Royal Tank Regiment (both of which were withdrawn in March); 2nd Battalion the Grenadier Guards; 1st Battalion the Light Infantry (which replaced 1st Battalion the Royal Hampshire Regiment in February); 1st Battalion of the 2nd King Edward VII Own Gurkha Rifles; the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles; and the 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles.
The primary task of the Army in Hong Kong is to operate in support of the Hong Kong Government, in particular the Royal Hong Kong Police. In the border area and on the offshore islands the Army, in conjunction with the police, has been closely associated with government efforts to prevent illegal immigration. Patrols are regularly carried out in the more inaccessible areas of the New Territories and the outlying islands. Apart from its military activities the Army has also provided support in the form of emergency fire fighting units for hill and forest fires and engineering support and assistance in natural disasters.
As well as their normal training the Gurkha engineers carried out a number of building projects for the Public Works Department within the closed border area during 1976. One such project involved assistance with temporary bridging at Man Kam To during the construction of a new bridge. Gurkha engineers also helped PWD workmen to demolish a railway bridge which was heavily damaged and made unsafe by a tropical storm in August. The bridge, over the Shing Mun River at Sha