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remark that they have good reason to know that the acquisition of mere colloquial Chinese is not attended with the difficulties popularly supposed to exist.
52. With reference to night duty, the Commission entirely concur in the Night-aurs. remark of the Honourable C. MAY (p. 87) that
"The great object of a preventive Police is to strengthen the night duty. By having two-thirds of the force on duty "each night, the difficulty of committing a robbery is doubled."
In the London Metropolitan Police and other forces at home the are always reliefs are so apportioned that two-thirds of the available men on patrol duty between the hours of 10 P.M. and 6 A.M., and during Mr. To MAY's tenure of office that plan seems to have been followed here. obtain this advantage it is obvious that the constables had to do eight hours' duty at a stretch, and, subsequently to Mr. May's resignation of the superintendency, it was thought that this was too much for the health of the men to stand, and the force was divided into four reliefs of six hours each. One-third of the force is detailed for the full day duty of twelve hours, and two-thirds for the full night duty of twelve hours, so it results that at any given hour of the night but one-third of the men are on duty. Now it is obvious that between the hours of ten at night and five or six in the morning the chief danger of burglary, the crime most calling for special precautions, exists. Therefore, if by any means the numbers of the patrol on duty can be doubled, it should be done. The Commission have given great attention to this point, as one having a paramount importance upon the question of the safety of life and property; and they are altogether of opinion that it can and ought to be done, though they are not prepared to deny that there are difficulties in the way. With regard to East Indians, reasonable doubts certainly exist whether their constitution would stand the strain of so long a night duty, and it is not intended that Europeans should perform eight hours' duty in the streets. Turning to the evidence of Dr. Dops and Dr. Young in this matter, the former says (p. 120):
"I think Asiaties might do eight hours a night, as they can sleep in the day time, and Europeans cannot.”
The latter, speaking of the eight hours system, says (p. 121):
Chinese feed better than East Indians, who starve themselves and will not "Chinese or West Indians could stand it. "take sufficient nourishment. They have not sufficient stamina.”
Mr. MAY has been good enough to draw up a scheme of day and night duties (bereto appended, marked C), which is based upon the assumption that the force will consist mainly of Indians. Reading Chinese for Indians, the majority of the For some years there Commission fully recommend the adoption of this scheme.
will probably remain some Indians in the force, and, so far as practicable, the Commission think that they should be utilised in out-stations, on lonely roads, may be found that a small and exposed beats. For these special duties, indeed, percentage of Indians or other coloured men will always be desirable.
53. The subject of beats is a very important one which would seem hitherto not Beats. to have received due attention. There does not appear ever to have been any system followed here by which the inspecting officer can do more than satisfy himself that the constable is on his beat, but whether he has duly perambulated it, or paid any attention to the state of the property he is placed there to protect is left totally untested. In well conducted forces much attention is paid to this point, and means are adopted to detect any lack of vigilance. It is almost needless to point out that. where Asiatics form the bulk of the force, a
Patrolling in pairs.
Water Police.
Police Halk.
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double necessity exists to provide against their apathy, and a system of checks should, if possible, be devised, so stringent and complete, that the constables on duty may never know the moment, or the means by which dereliction may be detected. The Commission see no difficulty in planning a system of beats so subject to inspection and cross inspection by Europeans, that no patrol need be left at night unlooked after for but a comparatively short time. Mr. RICE has, at their request, sent them a scheme of beats timed and measured, upon which he has obviously bestowed much care, and which the Commission forward in manuscript. Being of a purely technical nature, the members of the Commission cannot form any trustworthy estimate of its merits, but they recommend it to the attention of the Police authorities, who should be desired to adopt this or some equivalent scheme.
54. Before leaving this subject, the Commission beg to point out the objec- tionable nature of the systein of patrolling in pairs now in force in some parts of the town, a system which seems calculated to defeat its own object. Again to quote Mr. MAY (p. 87):
"Constables should not work in pairs; they should rely, not on being together, buż on help from neighbouring bouts **being near.”
By working two men together their practical utility as watchmen seems to be reduced nearly to that of one man, and double the quantity of ground is left unprotected. If two-thirds of the force are on duty at the same time during the night, the element of danger to a single man, which caused the adoption of the pair system, will be reduced to a minimum by the fact that the ground will be sufficiently covered with men to put available and speedy help within the reach of each constable. In regard to the inspection of beats, the Commission cannot see the utility of mounted patrols, except on the East and West roads where much distance has to be traversed. No check on the vigilance of constables can possibly be maintained by a mounted officer whose horse's hoofs in a narrow street give ample notice of his approach.
55. To turn to the Water Police, the Commission have much pleasure in appending some remarks (marked D) made at their request by Captain THOMSETT, R.N., Harbour Master, which possess much value, and in which, especially as to the sale of spirits in the harbour, they coneur. A valuable recommendation also comes from Inspector GRIMES (p. 119) to the effect that a water beat night be extended into Láp-sáp Wán (Belcher's Bay), the inhabitants of which, a disreputable set, seem hitherto to have been left very much to their own devices. Apropos of this place, the extension of a road into it from the Praya is essential as a further means of keeping its population in check. Mr. GRIMES, in common with the Harbour Master, suggests (p. 119) that an extra boat should always be among the European shipping. There is no doubt that at present a vast amount of spirits is illicitly sold by sampan people to sailors, and stolen property is often received in exchange.
56. So much complaint was made to the Commission of the state of the Police Hulk and its insufficient accommodation, that they requested Dr. Dons to inspect it and report to them on the subject. From his report, which is hereto appended (marked E), the Commission are glad that, some minor matters excepted, Dr. Dons does not consider things so bad as they were represented. Still the Commission
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