CO129-189 - Governor Hennessy - 1880 [7-9] — Page 283

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# MINUTE BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR.

1. I return the Police Books--Volumes eleven and twelve, showing the duties for 1876 and 1877--which I have perused, together with the Report of Mr. DEANE and the Returns he was good enough to prepare at my request on the night duties of the Police Force.

2. Those Documents confirm the suspicions I entertained that the night beats in this Colony are undermanned.

3. They also show that in the most important District the number of the Police on regular beats between midnight and six o'clock in the morning has been reduced since 1876, in the case of the European Force, from 14 to 8, and in the case of the Chinese Force, from about 20 to 15.

4. The Captain Superintendent also says that he has rarely enough men to fill all the beats, and that in such cases he has to order one man to take charge of two beats.

5. Let the night beats and patrols in the Victoria District be at once restored to the maximum strength of 1876; and let the Captain Superintendent prepare for my consideration a revised scheme of night beats and patrols of about thirty-three per cent. greater strength than the maximum I refer to.

6. In future I should like to see weekly returns of the night duties, and to receive a special report before the numbers are altered in any particular district.

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J. POPE HENNESSY, Governor.

27th September, 1878.

## EXTRACT FROM Report of COMMITTEE OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (1878-79) ON POLICE AND CRIME.

6. The Committee are strongly of opinion that under the existing system the City of Victoria, especially in the Central District, is insufficiently policed during the night time, i.e., from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M.; and that in lieu of its present distribution, two-thirds of the force ought to be on duty during those hours.

7. Two objections have been urged against this disposition of the Police by Mr. Deane, which he has carefully summarised in a memo. laid by him before the Committee. (Appendix, Document I, p. vi.). In the first place, he thinks that the circumstances of the town render it expedient to maintain a large proportion of men on day duty, and consequently a lesser one on night duty than obtains in England, and he supports this view with arguments worthy of attentive consideration. The Committee, however, cannot agree with him that the Police requirements of the city, important as they doubtless are, differ essentially from those of towns where the two-thirds rule prevails; nor that the circumstances of the place are such as to override the proved and imperative necessity of guarding life and property in the most effectual manner possible during the hours when they most need protection. More than this, they think that the specialities of European life within the tropics, where, during many months of the year, dwelling houses are easily accessible, and the peculiarly flimsy nature of the fastenings to the entrances to Chinese residences, stores and shops, afford strong arguments in favour of vigilance by night even in excess of that which prevails in England.

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8. In the second place, Mr. DEANE holds that the system of undivided eight-hour beats, which would be entailed on the Indian and Chinese portions of the force by the two-thirds rule, is more than the men could stand. (Appendix, Document I, p. vi. and pp. 7, 25 and 27). This is certainly a consideration to be not lightly disregarded, especially as the evidence before the Committee is to a great extent in favour of Mr. DEANE's views.

9. Inspector CRADOCK thought that eight-hour beats at a time would be a very hard duty. 'They (the Chinese) did eight hours at one time, and there were a great many cases in the hospital.' (p. 67). Mr. CREAGH would have two-thirds on at night if it could be managed, but he tried it with the Sikhs for a short time, and it was working the men very hard. 'It was found too much.' (p. 46.) But on the other hand, Mr. CREAGH thinks the men could stand it, although they would not like it. They do it in India, but not during the whole summer, and Mr. CREAGH never knew such duty affect any one's health. (p. 47). Inspector GRIMES thought that Chinese and Sikhs could do eight hours' duty without material injury to their health, but in the summer nights it would be hard on them having to carry a rifle.' (p. 75).

10. The undoubted necessities of the position, however, are such that in spite of these opinions the Committee think that the plan proposed by them ought to receive a fair and impartial trial. Duties which are safely performed by Englishmen in their own climate could, they believe, be undertaken by Indians and Chinese under climatic conditions not unfavourable to their health and endurance; and as to the duties imposed on the men by attendances in Court and in other ways, urged by Mr. DEANE, they do not differ materially from those which Policemen in England have to perform, nor ought they to be allowed to interfere with the primary objects of their employment.

Moreover, it is within the recollection of the Chairman (Hon. C. MAY) of the Committee, that for many years Constables, composed of materials inferior to those which are now obtained, did eight even nine consecutive hours of beat duty in Hongkong without difficulty, or injury to their health."

## GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, Bart., M.P.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 13th October, 1879.

1. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 80 of the 17th of July, 1879, on the various questions connected with the Police Force and the increase of crime in this Colony dealt with by Mr. May's Committee.

2. In my despatch No. 26 of the 17th of March, 1879, I reported that I had taken the responsibility of instructing the Captain Superintendent of Police, Mr. DEANE, to place two-thirds of the force on night duty, as I thought the increase of crime of late years was, to a large extent, due to the insufficiently guarded state of the Town at night.

3. I instructed him to furnish from time to time reports on this important change in the distribution of police work, and also to submit for my consideration any suggestion he might desire to make with respect to it, or in regard to any additional strength to the force he might think essential.

4. On the 1st July, 1879, Mr. DEANE reported as follows: "I have collected reports from the six Inspectors on duty in the City of Victoria, and their opinions coincide with mine, viz.: that having so many men on duty between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. has had a decidedly beneficial effect in diminishing the amount of crime during those hours."

5. Chief Inspector HORSPOOL writes: "Being absent from the Colony from May 1878 to May 1879, I am unable to give an opinion as to the immediate effect the change to the two-thirds principle had upon the crime of the Colony. But having, as it were, served my police apprenticeship at home to the two-thirds system, I had always looked to it as the best, and I am convinced it is even more necessary for the proper protection of life and property in this Colony than in England."

Inspector GRAY says: "With reference to your memorandum of the 24th instant respecting the regular duties of the Police and the two-thirds principle, I have to report that so far as the night time is concerned the two-thirds system works well. There has been a marked decrease in burglaries and larcenies from dwelling houses in the night time since it was adopted on the 19th of March, 1879."

Inspector LINDSAY says: "The two-thirds system lately introduced, is in my opinion a better mode of regulating the night duties than that previously adopted. And it appears to me that crime has become greatly reduced thereby."

Inspector CORCORAN says: "In my opinion the two-thirds system has worked well up to the present. Crimes committed between the hours of 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. have greatly decreased since the working of the system."

Inspector CRADOCK "finds the present system works well." Inspector RIVERS says: "I beg to state that during the time the two-thirds system has been in force, there has only been one case of robbery between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. in this district. The men at first seemed a little dissatisfied, but now they seem settled to the duties, and prefer the new system to the old. I would like that two men be taken from the 10 P.M. duty and put on the 2 P.M., on account of the frequent disturbances with the Naval and Military, the Naval Club being in the district, and Soldiers being on the streets till 9 P.M."

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