The Daily Press.
Force.
HONGKONG, JUNE 26TH, 1883.
We had been hoping that the Government would reconsider their intention of placing Captain DEMPSTER at the head of the Police. "Baniau" when referring to the proposed appointment on Saturday, rightly remarked that it smacked strongly of a job. We fear the job will be perpetrated beyond redemption. To-day, we understand, Mr. DEANE leaves here for home by the Pacific Mail steamer, and Captain DEMPSTER is to take up the Acting Superintendency of the Police. No doubt the gallant officer is an exemplary gentleman and an excellent military officer. He may also be a thorough disciplinarian, and possess the art of direction so necessary in a Police Force. We say he may, but we have no proof of it. He was for a few months, on one occasion, Acting Superintendent of Victoria Gaol, but we are not aware that he proved a very signal success in that position. History is silent as to his merits or demerits. At all events, he comes to us without experience of Police duties, and though, in the absence of another more experienced man, he might suitably fill a gap, there is no imaginable excuse for placing him over an officer of tried and proved ability, and one who has on several previous occasions worthily acted as Captain Deane's locum tenens.
As we have said before, there is no possible excuse for the injustice about to be perpetrated. Chief Inspector HORSPOOL has several times been deemed fit to hold the acting appointment when there was no extra emolument to be reaped, and he most fully justified the confidence shown in him by the efficient and satisfactory manner in which he ruled the Police. He is respected alike by the members of the Force and by all classes of the public. Indeed, it is not too much to say that few official appointments in Hongkong have excited more indignation than the placing of Captain DEMPSTER over Mr. HORSPOOL's head. It is a gratuitous insult to an old and tried official, for which it puzzles anyone to find a shadow of justification.
If Mr. HORSPOOL had never held the position before, he would, now that the post of Deputy Superintendent has been abolished, have a right to expect it; how much more has he this right after having proved himself able to sustain the dignity and discharge the duties of the office? In any case, the selection of Captain DEMPSTER is to be deprecated. He came out to fill a lucrative post on the garrison staff, and has neither claim nor right to employment in the Civil Service so long as there were competent officers in that service to fill the vacancies. If the Government had any reason to doubt the ability or suspect the integrity of Mr. HORSPOOL, which they certainly had not, then in Mr. J. P. McEVEN they had a man who has not only acquired experience as Deputy Superintendent of the Hongkong Police Force, but has, after Mr. HORSPOOL, a good claim to receive the appointment.
Page 464
The China Mail.
HONGKONG, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1883.
A brief paragraph appeared among our local items last night stating that Captain Superintendent Deane had left for home in the City of Rio de Janeiro on a year's leave of absence. The community will learn with some amount of surprise, and, we fancy, with no very great satisfaction, that Captain Dempster, of the Army Pay Department, is now performing the duties of Captain Superintendent Deane. There is no objection to be advanced against Captain Dempster personally. The gallant Captain formerly belonged, we believe, to the 80th Regiment, stationed here in 1877-78; he was for a few months Acting Superintendent of Victoria Gaol, and, for anything we know to the contrary, is a gentleman of ability, and as well qualified to discharge the duties of his new post as any one can be with Captain Dempster's experience in the Far East.
The complaint we are about to advance is not so much that Captain Dempster has received this temporary appointment as that he has received it in preference to Chief Inspector Horspool.
The principle of giving acting appointments to outsiders is essentially a vicious one in practice, as it naturally discourages the subordinate officials. This was one of the many bad features of Sir JOHN POPE HENNESSY's régime, and we had frequent occasion to denounce it. We had fondly hoped the days of jobbery in connection with official appointments were over in this Colony, that deserving officers would in future be allowed to enter into what they may legitimately consider the heritage of their labours. Is it too late to rectify the mistake in the Police Department? It would be a graceful act of deference to public opinion if His Excellency were to amend his selection at the last moment and do an act of simple justice to an old servant of the Colony.
The Police Commission of 1872, appointed by the late Sir R. G. Macdonnell, stated in the course of their report: "The Commission are of opinion that promotion should not cease at the rank of first-class Inspector, but should, when capability and zeal are shown, be open even up to the head of the Department. The holding out a reasonable hope of advancement to laudable ambition would inevitably lead to beneficial results to the whole Force. The Commission cannot recognize the justice or expediency of depriving long service Inspectors of any chance of promotion by the appointment of officers from other Colonies to the higher posts of the force." With these sentiments we cordially agree, and cannot consequently approve of the temporary appointment which has just been made.
There can be no doubt that Chief Inspector Horspool is the best qualified man in the Colony to occupy Captain Superintendent Deane's position, apart from any consideration of the desirability of giving officers in the Police promotion in the very top of the tree, where circumstances render it convenient, and the officers are deserving of such attention to their interests. Mr. Horspool is, we believe, an officer of twenty years' experience. He has already performed the duties of the Captain Superintendent on four or five occasions during the absence of his chief. So far as our information goes, he is generally regarded in the Colony as a capable officer. It goes without argument that he is thoroughly acquainted with the duties that would devolve upon him in the higher position; he has an excellent knowledge of the characters and peculiarities of the criminal class in this part of the world, and he is, in short, familiar with all the circumstances of life in the Far East. In these matters—most important as they are—Captain Dempster cannot compare with Chief Inspector Horspool. Why was the former, therefore, given preference over the latter? We commend the matter to the attention of the Government, trusting that some steps will be taken to amend the blunder.