The
He saw the West Indian regiments had been reduced, and a thousand men had /2 been cast on their own resources. They could get the pick of these men now. present supernumerary men were not those he would recommend us to take; picked men with unquestionable character could be procured. The thirty men here, however, cost nothing for passage; and they were all West Indians,
The Chief Justice suggested that they might vote a larger sum to allow a fair trial to be made.
The Colonial Secretary said that it could not be done without authority from the Home Government; but that, if immediate steps were to be taken, they could write to the Home Government.
The Chief Justice said he would not say immediate steps, but he thought that something must be done.
H. E. was of opinion that retaining Sikhs was simple throwing away money. Some conversation then ensued as to the cost, Mr. GIBB remarking that it might be well to obtain an idea how much it would cost to bring the West Indians to Hong- kong. The Colonial Secretary said, about $200 a head; and II. E. mentioned $180 as a likely price. It was therefore thought advisable to postpone the question till its bearings and details were better understood, so that nothing might be done hastily.
313
("Daily Press" of 20th August, 1870.)
Its
There can be very little question as to the soundness of the views enunciated by Chief Justice SMALE at the Meeting of the Legislative Council on Thursday, with respect to the organization or rather the disorganization of the Police Force. If there fis any Service in which it is necessary to maintain discipline, that Service is the Police. If there is any one thing essential towards maintaining discipline anywhere, it is that there should be one competent Head. If there is any place in the world where thorough organization in every department is required, that place is Hongkong. If there is not complete organization in a Police Force, so far from its tending to the preservation of peace and the prevention of crime, it is likely to have precisely the opposite effect. action will become so much shackled, that opportunities will be afforded for the escape of criminals. It will lack that promptitude and regularity, which are the most important element of its strength. Above all, it will lose that moral influence upou the criminal classes, which forms one of the most important and efficacious means of preventing the Joccurrence of crime. This end can only be obtained by the whole Force being concentrated under one efficient Head. When this is the case there is no clashing of interests; no interference of one, department with another; but all moves regularly and forcibly, and the utmost effect can, in consequence, be produced in the smallest space of time. Divide the control-let this body of men be under the Harbor Master; that under the Registrar-General, and all, more or less interfered with by that most questionable element in the local administration of Hongkong, Mr. D. R. CALDWELL and his Runners, and the whole system becomes at once demoralized. While one set of Police are looking out to catch criminals, another, deriving its information through a different department, is probably as actively engaged in helping the criminals off; and the result is that, in a Service where secrecy and despatch are of the utmost importance, there is delay, conflict of action and complete disarrangement. If this is likely to be the case in ordinary places, as very few will be disposed to deny, can it be doubted that in Hongkong, the evil will proceed to far greater lengths? Everybody knows the cleverness of the Chinese in tampering with the Police, and the necessity which consequently exists for the most careful supervision over every man in the Force. If the men are divided under different heads, the Superintendent can have no security that a portion of the Force is not worse than useless from being subjected to the kind of influence, which the Chinese know so well how to bring to bear on those
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