While the Police Adviser's duties will of course cover the whole field of police work, I am anxious that he should give particular attention to the organisation of security and intelligence services and especially to, special branch work in Colonial police forces. I need not here dwell on the immense importance which (for the reasons briefly indicated in my circular despatch of the 5th August) now attaches to the maintenance of efficient intelligence services. I do not wish to suggest that Colonial Governments should begin to regard the special branch of the police as their most important source of political intelligence. In the present organisation of Colonial administration, the function of making contacts with the people, and finding out what they are thinking, especially in Colonies with large native populations, must necessarily belong primarily to the Provincial Administration, which should be well placed through its day-to-day work to keep in touch with popular feeling, and to assess the importance of new movements and trends as they arise. It is of course very important that administrative officers should not be tied to their desks for too much of their time, thus adding to their difficulties in keeping up that intimate contact with the Colonial "man-in-the-street" which is the best means of understanding popular feeling.
There will, as I see it, be two main streams through which a Colonial Government may look to receive political intelligence on which to base its policy: the first includes the Defence Security Officer (where such an appointment exists), the special branch and other police sources. The second should include not only the district officers mentioned above (and of course any other Government officers whose work may bring them in contact with the public) but also any unofficial persons to whom Governments may be accustomed to look for reliable information as to the state of public feeling. (I need hardly say that where any of the Fighting Services
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