CO129-322 - Acting Governor May - 1904 [1-5] — Page 569

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Memorandum on the District Watchmen Force.

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1. From 1844 until 1858 the various geasures by which the Government endeavoured to adopt and preserve such Cothese Ins- titutions as in the words of the preamble to Ordinance No. 13 of

1844 tended to the preservation of peace and good order can be traced in the Ordinances of the Colony. "Native Chinese Peace Officers" were appointed and placed under the orders of the Registrar-General, and in 1857 these Peace Officers were specifi- cally bound by law to discharge the duties and exercise the powers of a constable of the Police Force.

2. In 1866 further progress was made in the regulation of the

local watchmen. Sections 12 to 15 of Ordinance 7 of that year provide for the appointment by the Governor of Chief Watchmen

and ordinary Watchmen for each of the Five Districts into which Victoria was divided at that time, for the making of rules by

the Registrar-General for the regulation of the watchmen, and for their punishment and dismissal if occasion required.

3.

Acting under this Ordinance the Registrar-Ceneral in July 1867 consulted the Chinese Community and it was decided to or- ganise a force of watchmen, to levy a rate of half per centum on the rent of each house and to entrust the money so obtained to the Registrar-General. The force was regarded by the then Registrar-General "as a preventive rather than an aggressive "force and as likely to render useful service as detectives and

"informers".

4.

The rate was and continues to be a voluntary rate although at times the advisability of making it compulsory has been under consideration. In 1869 the Governor, Sir Richard Macdonnell, proposed enacting an Ordinance with this object and the proposal was accepted by a public meeting of the Chinese Community, but

the