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with radio and telephone, which is manned continuously. In the wall, at head height around the circumference, windows afford a 360° arc of vision to the duty constable. The Control Room gives access on either side to the flat roof of the arms of the post. This roof has a low, castellated parapet, and forms the Observation Bridge. Here is located a petrol generator and a searchlight. The former supplies electricity to the searchlight by night, and re-charges the R/T batteries by day. The bridge is also manned throughout the twenty-four hours of the day.
The lower storey of the tower forms the men's mess room. In one of the wings, there is sleeping accommodation for the personnel, with built-in bunks and lockers. In the other wing, there is a kitchen, bathroom, and storage space, all small, but adequate. The windows of the ground floor perform the dual function of admitting light and protecting the post, since they are fitted with movable steel shutters bearing loopholes. The whole building is surrounded by a barbed wire perimeter of some depth.
The personnel are Cantonese and Hakka constables, the number varying with the area covered by the post, and the activities which it has to perform. This also influences the choice of command: in the more heavily staffed posts, a Sergeant is in charge, and in the remainder, a Corporal. All posts are well armed, having automatic weapons and grenades as well as the rifles and revolvers normally to be found in the N.T., and there is a plentiful supply of ammunition. Emergency signalling and lighting equipment is installed so that the posts are able to continue in their work in the event of a breakdown in their mechanical equipment.
In short, each post is so designed, constructed, equipped, and staffed that it can, if need be, carry on an independent existence as a unit, without assistance from the main station.
Today the posts still retain very much the same appearance as when they were built. They are in a good state of preservation despite their exposed positions. Modern installations include room coolers, thermal imagers, external cat ladders, safety railings, and windows to the upper storey of the control tower. In the fenced compound of each post, there is a separate ablution block and generator house, and at some locations