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"armed with Rifles, and it is very essential, for many reasons, that they should be a drilled and disciplined body capable, when required, of united action. These reasons arise partly from the nature and ordinary functions of the Hong Kong Police, partly from the duties which might fall to their share during a time of emergency.
(3) In dealing with this force it would be well to dismiss all recollection of the corresponding body in England. The Hong Kong Police, however, presents a close analogy to the Royal Irish Constabulary. Like them, they are an armed force; like them, much of their duties lies amid a passively, or actively, hostile population, while the "Lily" and "Triad" secret societies are organizations more widely spread than even the Fenian Brotherhood, or the band of invincibles.
The Hong Kong Police are often called on to cope with, not only individual criminals, but with bodies of armed men from the mainland, organized for the sake