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and the illegal felling of trees. The carrying of firearms was prohibited, and many weapons were handed in to the Police, but by March there still remained a large number of firearms in the possession of members of the Chinese underworld. successful raids were carried out and resulted in the recovery of firearms and the prevention of robbery. Armed robberies were not much more frequent than in normal times and the situation in this respect never showed signs of getting out of hand.
120. During the month of March a beginning was made in taking over certain aspects of the policing of the northern district of the New Territories. The first batch of recruits was passed out from the Police Training School at the end of February and a further batch by the end of March. In view of the grave shortage of Police personnel a modified course of training was introduced covering two, instead of the normal six, months.
121. One branch of the Police Force which was most severely tried during the period was the Special Branch which had to be completely re-constituted, all former records having been lost. In addition to keeping abreast with normal current political affairs, this branch had to undertake the huge work of preparing cases against suspected quislings and collaborators. It was anticipated that the civil police would be in a position to undertake the entire policing of the Colony by the beginning of June.
122.
Within three weeks of the establishment of the Military Administration all British and Indian prison officers had been repatriated. Two British officers, assisted by a small force of Portuguese, took charge of the civil prisoners and carried on the administration of the prison until re-inforcements were received from Shanghai in December. Prison industries were re-started in a small way. By the end of February 2,380 prisoners had been admitted to Stanley Prison since the begin- ning of the Administration. At the beginning of March, Stanley Prison housed 896 civil prisoners and 302 prisoners of war. Discipline in the prison was satisfactory. One prisoner escaped during the period under review. In addition to adult males, female prisoners were housed in Stanley Prison, while a small reformatory was opened within the Prison precincts.
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123. All British Fire Brigade personnel had been repatriated by the end of October except one officer, and the Fire Brigade organization was carried on, with the assistance of Chinese sub-officers, by two British officers instead of the normal thirteen, until reinforcements arrived in January. Fire Brigade apparatus was found to be in surprisingly good condition and all former personnel records were available. Efforts were made to recover from Japan two valuable modern fire-engines which had been removed to Tokyo during the occupation.
Judicial.
124. The smooth functioning of the Legal and Judicial Legal and departments in all their sections was, to a great extent, attribut- able to the generous assistance given by members of the Hong Kong Bar and Law Society in the staffing of both courts and offices, and by certain members of the public who gave their services on statutory tribunals,
125. The Standing Military Courts were opened at the Courts of Justice on the 24th September, 1945. Up to the 31st March, 1946, the General Military Court had dealt with 193 serious cases. Summary Military Courts were also established in September and, up to the 31st March, 2,145 cases had been dealt with by these courts in Hong Kong, and 2,163 cases in Kowloon. The Marine Court dealt with 19 cases during this period. Rent tribunals were established in December, 1945, and rendered great services to the community by dealing with cases arising out of the rent restrictions and tenancy disputes. Up to the 31st March, 569 petitions had been received, of which 373 had been disposed of.
126. The records of the Land Office were retrieved almost intact after the re-occupation and were returned to the Courts of Justice together with the records of property transactions effected under the Japanese occupation. For the protection of intending purchasers and others, transactions during the enemy occupation were noted in the registers in a distinctive ink, and legislation was later prepared to enable those interested to regularise these transactions after the restoration of Civil Government. The registers of those properties which were unaffected by transactions during the enemy occupation were thrown open to free dealings on the 27th December, 1945. Between that date and the 31st March, 598 instruments were registered.
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