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Chinese public opinion and to urge people to desist from
it required much less courage than to report a Triad
Lodge.
"When a new idea is presented to
them, people sometimes accept it uncritically and with
enthusiasm, but I know the Chinese too well to believe for
one minute that you can get Committeemen to come and
report regularly and openly to the Registrar-General. It
will be wiser to throw the whole responsibility on the
District Watchmen Committee and leave them to make their
own arrangements. I had a suspicion, which was strengthened
by a subsequent meeting of the Committee, that the members
wished to avoid the responsibility, and place it entirely
on the Registrar-General and the Street Committee-men.
I have therefore approved of his
utilising the District Watchmen Committee itself in this
connection as suggested by him. But as there is no Dis-
-trict Watchmen Porce in Kowloon and because it does not
appear to me desirable (and the Registrar-General agrees
with me) to establish such a Force there, the Registrar-
-General will make his own arrangements with certain
members of the District Watchmen Committee who take an
interest in the Peninsula, and otherwise, to gain informa“
-tion