1
256
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to the very practical plan detailed by Dr. LEGGE in paragraph 30. The city has already been divided into wards for the purpose of registration, and subsequently for the selection of District Watchmen, and the Chinese community have thoroughly accepted the resulting nomenclature. Moreover, the inhabitants of these wards have shown themselves not insensible to considerations of public interest, and therefore much of the needful machinery for carrying out a satisfactory scheme of enlistment already exists. The majority of the Commission, therefore, advise that steps should be taken to consult the leading inhabitants of these wards as to the best means of obtaining men in whom confidence can be reposed and they have no doubt that much valuable assistance will be secured by these means. They recommend that, in addition, great care should be taken in the selection of the men, none being accepted whose characters are not well known, and for To men thus enlisted in- whom some respectable security cannot be found. ducements should be held out, and opportunities afforded to learn English.
Chinese
46. The numerical standard of the Chinese force should perhaps be kept at Numbers and pay of about 400; and as to their scale of pay and promotion the majority of the Commission suggest that they should enter as third class constables upon a salary of about $10 a mouth: upon promotion to second class constables their pay should rise to say $12 a month. As time goes on, a first class should be framed of long service English-speaking men, who should receive not less than $20 a month. scale of pay should not include good conduct or special service allowances, or allowances for proficiency in English, which should be held out as induce- ments to diligence and extra merit; but the first class with these allowances should be the limit of the promotion obtainable by Chinese.
men,
This
47. As before mentioned, the force should be officered throughout by omfoering. Europeans, and the great aim should be that the Chinese be subject to entire European supervision and control. With regard to the percentage of officers to time and experience alone can show what scale is most advantageous. The office of corporal, which seems to have but little fitness in a Police force, should be abolished, and the proportion of sergeants to privates should be fixed on some intelligible principle, it being borne in mind that efficiency in the force can only be hoped for when each sergeant has sufficient men to employ his time, and yet only such a number as to allow him to take a personal interest in them and his capacity by the way they are taught to perform their duties.
to prove
48. Much has been said in the evidence both for and against the use of Detectives. Chinese detectives, the opinions expressed being of the most opposite nature. The Honourable CHARLES MAY has a feeling with regard to these which it is no exaggeration to describe as a horror of them (p. 84), and it is impossible to deny that there is much justice in his views. Mr. DEANE, on the other hand, is in favour of a cautious and limited use of them (p. 42 and passim), while Mr. DOUGLAS is even sanguine as to their great utility when carefully supervised (pp. 61, 62).
49. The Commission strongly hold that the efforts of the Police should be Detectives. mainly applied to the prevention of crime rather than to its detection, which is and always will be surrounded with extraordinary difficulties. But at the same time they consider that it would be nothing less than weakness on the part of the Police, even in view of these great difficulties, to abdicate their detective functions. Three outlines of detective systems have been laid before the Commission, one by Mr. DEANE (p. 42), one by Mr. DOUGLAS (pp. 61, 62), and one by Inspector
Instruction of Police.
Education of Force.
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GRIMES (p. 119). The Commission have not sufficient practical knowledge, nor do they think it within their functions, to decide on the merits of these scheines, a task which must be left to the Police authorities. The majority, however, are fully prepared to advise that some well considered detective system should be set on foot without delay and that no pains should be spared in its organisation. As part of such system they have no hesitation in recommending that, as urged by both Messrs. DEANE and DOUGLAS, a vigilant watch should be kept upon the passengers who land from river steamers and fast-boats, and that occasionally detectives should travel upon these, so that, to quote the words of Mr. DOUGLAS (p. 61), "a known thief should never have five minutes' rest in the Colony,"
50. The instruction of the Police as to their duties seems to have been hitherto singularly neglected. The Commission have learnt, with some degree of pain, that men of all nationalities have been sent out on patrol duties with no more preparation than that of being furnished with a suit of uniform and a staff! From the enquiries which the Commission have been enabled to make into the working of other Police forces, where success has been attained, has been much through a laborious system of instruction. For instance, the Irish consta- bulary go through a six months' course of instruction in Police duties, tested by periodical examinations at a depôt, before they are told off to active service at all. The Colony probably could not afford the expense which would be entailed by a system so elaborate as this, but some modification of it might be introduced. Without going into further details, the Commission think that, after his enlistment, each man should be sent out on a beat, not as a Policeman, but as a learner under some experienced officer; that, in addition, indoor instruction in Police duties should be provided for him; and that he should not be allowed to act until he has shown by an examination that he has acquired at least the rudiments of Police knowledge. In the case of men enlisted at home from other forces this rule might be modified, as only local knowledge would remain to be acquired. The Commission take this opportunity of referring to the excellent draft of Police Rules prepared by Mr. DEANE, which, if thoroughly got up and made a subject of examination, would in themselves do much to banish at least theoretical igno- rance. Amongst the
many causes contributing to the stagnation of improvement in the Police force have been the state of practical abeyance into which the old Rules of the force were allowed to fall; the want of the new ones in question, which ought to have been compiled much earlier; and finally, the great length of time allowed to elapse whilst they awaited, as they do even now, the sanction of the Executive. The Commission trust there will be no further delay in their confir- mation, and in enforcing them both in letter and in spirit.
51. With respect to the general education of the force, a great deal has been done and is being done by the Police schools introduced by SIR R. G. MACDONNELL, The attention of the Commission has been drawn to the scheme of the school committee (hereto appended, marked B), which was drawn up in 1870, and forwarded to the Government in the same year; and they venture to hope that no further delay will be allowed in bringing it into operation. They also approve of the suggestion of Mr. DEANE (p. 25) that promotion should, as a general rule, be withheld from every constable who has not acquired at least some proficiency in a language other than his own, that is to say, English by a Chinese and collo- quial Chinese by an Englishman. While upon this subject, the Commission would
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