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It will be noted that the malaria figures for Castle Peak are also inordinately high. From a purely health point of view the immediate surroundings of this station are bad. In front there is a swamp and at the rear a broken-surfaced hill slope which imperfectly drains itself, while at both ends of the station, there is much jungle growth which should be uprooted and the ground turfed. There is also an untrained nullah a few yards from the north end of the station.
Attention is being concentrated on making all stations mosquito-proof. The draining of paddy fields in the immediate neighbourhood of Stations appears to be of little real value.
Owing to the Strike and also to lack of funds, the Botanical and Forestry Department was unable to carry out its full programme of clearing the grass and undergrowth from around stations.
WATER POLICE.
Details concerning the Water Police are contained in Annexe A.
RECRUITING.
Details concerning recruiting and the Police Training School will be found in Annexe B.
SPECIAL EVENTS.
1. General Remarks.-During the latter half of the year 1925 the Police had to face what was probably the most difficult situation which had arisen during the history of the Force. The morale of the Chinese Contingent (both Land and Water) had been improved by the experiences of 1922. During the Seamen's Strike in the latter year there had been a tendency to a passive and non-committal attitude. In 1925 good and energetic work was done, especially by the Chinese Detective Staff, and a number of arrests were made of intimidators. A gratifying feature was the very low number of desertions. Out of 533 Cantonese Police (Regular Duty men and detectives) there were 8 desertions attributed to the Strike. Out of 353 men of the Wei Hai Wei Contingent, 5 deserted. One man is said to have joined the Whampoa Cadets. From the Chinese Water Police 14 men absented themselves. The latter number compared very favourably with the losses sustained by other Government Departments with Harbour Staffs. The full service of Police Patrol Launches was maintained throughout the year. It was largely due to the
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