unemployed are prepared to risk arrest to earn small commissions and tips.
74. The majority of our shoeblacks are decent youngsters in hard circumstances concerned only with earning a daily living. However, during the year there have been a number of instances of shoeblacks squirting coloured fluid onto the shoes of those who decline their overtures. Tourists again have been the principal victims. A number of arrests have been made and convictions obtained, but it is an offence which is difficult to stamp out.
Vice
75. Uniformed police on beat duty have arrested several thousand persons in the streets during the year in possession of narcotics, mostly heroin in powder form, and have seized thousands of packets of heroin. Although substantial arrests have been made and prison terms imposed, narcotics peddling of this nature shows no signs of abating.
The Tourist Industry
76. Tourists are coming to the Colony in increasing numbers year by year and are much in evidence in the central urban areas by day and night. They naturally turn to a policeman when they require information. The majority of tourists are English-speaking and this has emphasized during the year the importance of a knowledge of English for the local officer.
Industrial Disputes
77. Many man hours were spent on stand-by duty and deployment to ensure that breaches of the peace did not occur when industrial disputes were in progress.
Illegal Immigration
78. Without diverting the major effort from the urban to the rural areas it is difficult to take effective preventive action against illegal immigrants. However, the Uniform Branch devoted much time and effort to this problem during the year.
Control of Public Functions
79. This demanded police action to a greater or lesser degree every week of the year. The expenditure in manpower at the expense of watch and ward was heavy but, with the weight of population confined within a limited area, considerable control of public functions was essential to maintain reasonable good order.
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