Enclosure 1.
Extract from Minutes of Executive Council held
on 29th. November, 1911.
Peace Preservation.
C O
1714
Rres 17 JAN 12
349
The Governor referred to the various occasions of late
upon which the Police had been assailed by mobs when in the
execution of their duty, and to other instances of turbulence
and defiance of law and order which had occurred during the last
month. Additional instances were related by Mr. Hewett. The
Governor said that in these circumstances he had come to the
conclusion that it would be advisable to issue a Proclamation
under section 6 of the Peace Preservation Ordinance primarily in
order to strengthen the hands of the Magistrates in dealing with
such crimes, and secondly in order to enable the temporary
engagement of 20 soldiers as Police, who had been detailed by His
Excellency the General Officer Commanding at the Governor's
request, to learn Police duties, in case they were required.
Council concurred in the proposal, and expressed the view that
the European Police Force should be strengthened at any rate
temporarily. The Governor added that the Ordinance in question was in his opinion unsatisfactory. No special powers were given
to deal with assaults on the Police or unprovoked acts of intimi-
-dation, or insult offered to Europeans, during the currency of
the Proclamation, and other sections were somewhat vague and un-
-satisfactory. Council advised that the Hon. Attorney-General should prepare an Amending Ordinance for immediate introduction
into the Legislative Council.
L