:
1.
PEC?
1758
22
It may be accepted that the Gerefholt (of India
is interested in the condition of Indians in Hongkong; (i) there is always a garrison of Indian Troops here; (ii) the number of Indians employed here, in one way and another, is large and is increasing annually; and (iii) for Imperial reasons.
There is, further, the danger that Hongkong will become a centre for spread. ing sedition and anti-British sentiments, owing to its location between America and India. There is ground for supposing that a great number of Indians here are at present anti-British and pro- German and openly, approve of the teaching of the American publish. ed newspaper the "Gadr". It is no part of this minute to enter into the particulars of those sentiments; but, to anyone who has experience of Indians, it is obvious that one reason that the
Indians here get out of hand so to speak is that there is no British official here who understands them, their ways and their language sufficiently well, who is in any way their representat-
ive.
2.
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·
It is of course practically impossible, if indeed, it is desired (which seems unlikely) to keep Indians from coming to Hongkong; while there is no doubt that the excellent pay of police and watchmen here is very attractive to the Punjabi fight- ing classes. At present, there is reason to think that many of the men who are employed here in the police, and as watchmen, are
not of the right class or of the best character.
3.
I would suggest that enlistment in the police here,
or service as watchman, should be restricted to men who have done
at least 3 years approved service in the Indian Army and who are
megially recommended by their Commending Officers. The advantage:
of this are that Hongkong would get a better class of men; there would be more prises in the way of good appointments open to the Indian Army, and thus indirectly recruiting would be stimulated; and these men would be available for use in the defence of Hong Kong if required (in view of their military training they would be more useful than the present police). As a corollary to this