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make the problem of keeping control over the Chinese population
of Hong Kong much more difficult and complicated. The old
sense of loyalty and implicit obedience to authority among the
Chinese weakened almost to vanishing point in the years immediately following the Revolution, while the new half-
understood and ill-digested teachings of the revolutionary
leaders made the Hong Kong community restless and very liable to exploitation by republican politicians from Canton. Nevertheless it has throughout been possible to hold together in this Colony a body of loyal Chinese citizens, who could be depended upon for information and advice, and who on occasion
- and especially during the last three years have been
willing to come out into the open and give the Hong Kong
Government their active assistance. This result has, however,
only been achieved by very careful handling of the Chinese
merchants, who are by nature timid and reluctant openly to
espouse any cause until its success has been assured. The work done during the Seamens' Strike of 1922 - which proved
a valuable object-lesson from the very fact that the result
was a"victory"for the Seamen bore fruit in 1925, when the
Chinese merchants of Hong Kong rallied round the Government
at the outbreak of the anti-British boycott. It is now a
justifiable hope that such a nucleus of active assistance
has been formed as to prevent the possibility of the Chinese
community again being stampeded as it was in 1922 by want
of leadership.
3.
The principal agent, through whom the Hong Kong
Government controls the Chinese community, is the Secretary
for Chinese Affairs; and the chief agencies through which this
officer works, and with which he is in the closest possible
touch, are as follows:-
(a)
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(a) His most important co-adjutors should always be the two
Chinese members of the Legislative Council, both
nominated by the Governor, and both ex officio members
of the numerous Chinese committees connected with the
Secretariat for Chinese Affairs. The senior of the two
Chinese members of the Legislative Council is now also
a nominated member of the Executive Council; and the
Secretary for Chinese Affairs is always nominated to a
seat both in the Executive and the Legislative Councils.
(b) The District Watch Committee is a body without legal
status and of gradual growth, whose activities are
completely under Government control, but which is never-
theless truly representative of the Chinese community and possesses very great influence. A list of the members of
this committee appears on Page 47 of the Hong Kong Civil
Service List for 1927. The District Watch Committee
provides and controls a Police force of some 120 men,
known as the District Watch Force, which works in close
touch with the regular Police. On practically every
question of interest or importance to the Chinese
community the advice of the Committee is sought by the
Government. It is under the chairmanship of the Secretary
for Chinese Affairs, who controls its deliberations,
which are held in camera, the members being bound by an
oath of secrecy. Since my assumption of office as
Governor, an arrangement has been made whereby quarterly
meetings of this Committee are held at Goverment House
in camera under the chairmanship of the Governor himself
and with the Colonial Secretary in attendance. The object
is to enable the Governor to have first-hand information
concerning
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