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Watch Houses, in connection with which the Registrar-General has responsibilities, is neglected and much work is left undone by the Department. Societies registered under the Societies Ordinance require more supervision, and there is much difficult Police Court work in connection with the Ordinance for the Protection of Women and Girls which has to be handed over to the Crown Solicitor but which would probably be better done by an officer of the Depart- -ment; and in the opinion of Mr. Hallifax and myself it is very necessary that the registration of householders provided for in Ordinance No. 3 of 1888 should be thoroughly re-organised and systematically enforced and supervised. It has never been complete- -ly applied in the Kowloon Peninsula.
4.
Moreover steps are now being taken to extend to the Kowloon Peninsula the system of the District Watchmen's Organisation and to establish a District Watchmen's Station there. To assist in defraying the necessary expenditure which will fall on the District Watchmen's Fund, Mr. Ho Kom-tong has generously made a donation of 85,000.
This extension of the registration of House- -holders and of the District Watchmen's Force will entail a good deal of extra work on the Department.
5.
The time of the 2 Assistant Registrars- -General is at present fully occupied. It is true that the amend- -ments of the Banishment Ordinance which you have recently
sanctioned will afford one of the officers some relief. But this
will be counterbalanced by the re-organization and extension of the registration of Householders. Mr. Hallifax does not anticipate, and agree with him, that the alterations in the Enigration
Ordinance due to the abolition in 1914 of the system of assisted emigration will for some years at least reduce the supervision
over emigrants. Women and children will still have to be examined
as at present and the removal of restrictions on male emigration
is not likely to lead to reduction of abuses. The two Assistant
-
Registrars-
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