COPY.
Your Excellency,
C.0.
22916
622 JUN 001
247
I think the proposal to recruit Police
Officers for this Colony, the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States by competitive Examination an excellent
one.
Such Police Cadetships might be offered at the examination for Cadetships proper, candidates to signify before the examination whether they are candidates for the Police Cadetships as well as Cadetships or for Police Cadetships only. Or an entirely separate examination might be held for them. In any case I am strongly of opinion that only nominees of the Secretary of State for the Colonies should be allowed to compete for Police Cadetships. It must be remembered that the Police Services of the Colonies and State comprise only 22 Officers. Unless great care is taken in selection a certain number of undesirable candidates are sure to gain admittance and in such a small Service the bad effect would be very pronounced. Police Officers are constantly before the eye of the Public and of their men and it is essential that Officers should be men of good breeding, good address, and very steady.
As regards amalgamating the three Forces I think that no very close amalgamation would be conducive to efficiency owing to the fact that the languages to be acquired in the three Countries concerned are not the same neither are
the laws.
If a system of Police Cadetships for the
Far East is adopted, it should be an essential feature of it that a cadet shall learn at least 1 dialect of the Chinese language besides one other language, viz.- either Hindustani or Malay. A Police Cadet for Hongkong should learn Hindustani and the Cantonese dialect of the Chinese language, while the law is the law of England plus the local Ordinances.
In the Straits and the Federated Malay States the law is, I believe, the Indian Penal Code plus the local Code of Criminal Procedure and the local Ordinances; while one essential language for all Police Officers is Malay. and there are two dialects of the Chinese language which are equally useful the Cantonese and the Amoy while a third (the Swatow) is much spoken. Hindustani is also, I assume, of 'importance.
A Hongkong Police Cadet, as remarked
above, ought to learn Cantonese and Bindustani. Possibly the same languages plus Malay would be the most useful to the Federated Malay States Police Cadet. But I imagine that some
at
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