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the.
unpaid agents for the regulation of native population, aid in the registering of the Chinese under their supervision.
Their duties under the Chinese Government, consist in giving timely notice of robbers, gamblers, fugitives, smugglers of salt, distillers of spirits, sellers of Saltpetre and sulphur, persons that obtain money under false pretences, hold unlawful meetings, &c. If they faithfully discharge their trust, they are rewarded, often by promotion to one of the lower grades of rank; and the privation.
of this is the disgrace they suffer for misconduct or neglect.
They assist the police in apprehending malefactors, and denounce them to the authorities when they fail in their duty.
They furnish the census of the inhabitants in their respective wards and mark one who cannot give an account of himself. They are answerable for the preservation of the peace, preventing riots, drunkenness, noisy assemblies, and other nuisances.
With respect to punishments they stand on a level with the common people - neglect of duty entails loss of previous rank, and sometimes dismissal. As however they are not paid, and the responsible office is sought by very few, dismissal is sometimes rather an emancipation than a punishment.
Their chief privilege is free access to the authorities, possessing however, little power by virtue of their office, and only when expressly vested in them for specific purposes. It is chiefly for this right of addressing the authorities directly, without the intervention of others, that the position is sought.