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Police Guards are now divided into 3 categories, i.e., (1) Ship Guards (2) Shore Guards (3) Special Guards (Lewis Gun).
Duties.
(a) Ship Guards are supplied to Shipping Companies whose vessels come under the provision of the Piracy Prevention Ordinance. The majority of these men are ex-soldiers, and have to pass a course in rifle and revolver shooting, before they are eligible for this employment.
(b) Shore Guards are supplied to Firms and Individuals requiring Indian Watchmen to guard against theft, etc. They are visited at least 3 times a week by Police Officers either by day or night, to see that they are doing their work properly and efficiently.
(c) Special Guards (Lewis Gun). When the Piracy problem became acute in March, 1924, it was decided to run the river steamers in convoy, the senior ship to be manned by a Lewis Gun Section of 1 sergeant and 8 men. These Sections were originally supplied by the Military Authorities and later by the Indian and Wei Hai Wei contingents of the Hongkong Police. This took too many men away from the Regular Duties, and it was decided to form a special squad of Indian Guards qualified to handle a Lewis Gun and rifle who would take over these duties. Pay: $25.00 per mensem, free uniform and free rations.
A cadre of 10 such men was formed from amongst the Ship Guards and S.M. Nur Mohamed was sent to India to recruit a further 40 ex-service Lewis Gunners. On their arrival these men were put through a Lewis Gun course, and under European Police Officers took over the duties of L.G. section on board senior convoy ships.
Conduct:-A large number of cases of "Missing Ship" occurred amongst the ship guards early in the year. Punishment for this offence by fining was found to be useless, but a sentence of a month's imprisonment with hard labour inflicted by the Marine Magistrate under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act was found to be an excellent deterrent to others, and very few cases occurred during the last 6 months of the year. 38 men were dismissed for misconduct.
Musketry.-721 men were put through a modified revolver course of whom 430 passed the requisite test and 291 failed.
Those who failed were employed on shore posts without arms.