C.S.O. 2501/18.
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Memorandum of Information with regard to
Hongkong Police Probationers.
1. With the view of supplying the Police Service of Hongkong, Probationer- ships have been established, the holders of which will be required to devote them- gelves for a certain time after their arrival in the Colony to acquiring a knowledge of Chinese and Hindustani and of Police work and drill.
2. The Probationers will be selected by competitive examination held by the Civil Service Commissioners.
The examination for these appointments will, as a rule, be held in the months of June or July, in those years in which vacancies occur, simultaneously with the examination for the Indian Police Force and for the Police Services of Ceylon and the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, in the same subjects and the same papers. Candidates may compete for the Indian and for one or all of the Colonial Services at the same time.
Applications for admission to the combined examination should be addressed to the Secretary, Judicial and Public Department, India Office, in the manner laid down in the Regulations for admission to the Indian Police Force issued by that Department. These regulations also contain full information as to the subjects for examination.
Applications for admission to the examination of candidates for the Police Forces of the Colonies and Federated Malay States only should be addressed to the Eastern Department of the Colonial Office. They must reach that Department not later than the 1st of May.
3. Candidates must be above 19 and under 21 years of age on the 1st day of June in the year in which the examination is held. They must be unmarried, and if they marry before reaching the East they will forfeit their appointments.
Every candidate must be a British subject of pure European descent on both sides, and at the time of his birth his father must have been a British subject, either natural-born or naturalised in the United Kingdom.* He must, if called upon to do so, satisfy the Civil Service Commissioners that he is duly qualified in respect of age and character. He must be of sound constitution, possessed of good sight, and physically qualified for service in tropical climate. Successful candidates will be required to undergo a strict medical examination by the Medical Board appointed to examine the successful candidates for Indian Police appointments, to test these points. A fen of two guineas will be charged in respect of this examination. No candidate who does not possess the physical qualifications required in the case of a candidate for the Indian Police Force will be regarded as eligible for an appoint- ment in the Colonial Police Forces.
4. Successful candidates will be allotted, as and when opportunity offers, to the service of Hongkong or Ceylon or of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, upou a consideration of all the circumstances, including their own wishes; but the requirements of the Public Service will rank before every other considera- tion, and the Secretary of State will retain full discretion to allot as he thinks fit.
5. Probationers will be expected to leave England about a month after they have been finally selected for appointment. A free passage to the Colony will be provided for the Probationer, subject to an undertaking to refund the cost of his passage in the event of his relinquishing the appointment within three years for any other reason than mental or physical infinuity.
* The decision of the Secretary of State for the Colonies as to whether a candidate satisfies this condition will be final. No emdidate who has been rejected as unt qualified in this respect 7 for the indiun Service will be neceşted an u ħandidate for the Colonial Forces,
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