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the old Youmati Police tation, and in the premises of the Hawkers'
office, Leighton Hill toad,
However, for some reason which I still do not understand,
the applicants continued to crowd my lead Office, while the branch
offices were almost deserted; this despite advertisements in the
Chinese press calling attention to the fact that facilities for
obtaining application forms and submitting applications existed at the addresses given. I accordingly closed the two latter after
the unfruitful experiment had lasted for 3 to 4 weeks, and ceased
to seek other premises for branch offices, considering that the
staff wasting their time there might be better employed easing
the tension in the iì.0. and gaining a minimum of experience of the
work of passport examination on board ships under the guidance of
the Folice passport examination branch.
Even more mysterious than the failure of the public to
take advantage of the facilities offered them freely was their
readiness to avail themselves on payment of the services of the
institutions which under the various names of application agencies,
translation bureaux, and so on, sprung up on all hands almost as
soon as the department began to function. At the outset I was
alsposed to welcome their help, as it offered a hope that the ruah
and clamour in my office might be diminished, and that the not
inconsiderable number of those whose self-importance teaches them
to expect individual and personal attention from the head of a very
busy department might have their wishes met elsewhere.
The mystery
cleared somewhat when it came to my knowledge that tlæse agencies
I shall from now on use what has grown to be the usual word for
them were helping applicants in ways which the framers of the
law assuredly did not expect, or at least did not wish; they
secured priority of treatment by ***x*x* my staff, and sold
fictitious evidence of untrue statements to whoever paid their
price. The eagerness of the public to obtain my wares may be
gauged by the prices paid to the agencies; it was creditably
reported that they ran as high as $18 per application. That much
bribing