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11.
A five-year contract in itself so obviously entailed a return on its completion to a surfeited labour market at an unemployable age, and hilst it is conceivable that a few men might, by reason of domestic or other cause, have relinquished their home pension and other rights for their present insecure appointments, obviously the whole of the original 800 applicants would not.
12.
Though it has since been denied that it was over the intention to re-engage few if any of the original Hong Kong officers, we would refer you to the circular which was issued to those men in which there is at least the implied threat of dismissal. It WAS said, and was a main factor in determin- ing men to take up their present appointments, and the fact that it was the original policy of the Government is shown by the large numbers of the men so recruited, and by the fact that the present policy is to reduce the strength of the European Inspectorate as quickly as possible, and to a much lower strength than pre-war.
13.
Had the original intention been merely to augment the existing Hong Kong Police Force up to its authorised strength, then it would have been so much easier, cheaper and in many ways more convenient to have recruited locally from the ranks of the Services then in the Colony; in fact from members of the Armed Forces who were actually policing the Colony on arrival here. Morcover, this method of recruitment would have provided a much younger and more evenly balanced Force than the present middle-aged one.
our
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Some wore informed by the interviewing Officers in London that the Hong Kong Police Force was to be entirely reconstructed and it was there- foro obvious that those of us with the more service and the more experience, and especially those of us with rank would, indeed LUST gain rapid, if not immediato promotion here, as even this Force could not consist of 158 men with the lowest European rank of Sub-Inspector with no intermediate or higher ranks.
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For our part, we were to be the original members of a new Police Force and quite obviously those of us with the previous man, the greater experience and the more qualifications must have been given immediate promotion on a substantial scale in order to maintain seniority here. previous service must count for all purposes as if it had been served here.
Furthur, that our
16.
We considered that we were merely transferring from one Polico Force to another as is covered by Police Regulations, and this is borne out by the subsequent amendment to the contract of those officers who transferred from the Metropolitan Police Force.
17.
The contention of the Government that our provious service does not count is obviously wrong, and can be ridiculous, for it is anologous to a man transferring from one station to another within the same Force wise, with 29 years service, and at that stage pensionable, and yet losing all
or other- his previous service and rank at the new station, whore he would be expected to serve a full fresh term of 30 years in order to secure the pension for which he had already served 29 years.
18.
Several of us were informed that owing to the special naturo of the engagement, the question of longer contract terms than the standard of five years was under consideration, and that our new contracts embodying this longer term would be awaiting us on our arrival hero.
19.
Home Office letter 676.652/68 of 24.1.46 to an official at New Scotland Yard roads,
"We have spoken to the Colonial Office about Scolion 5(a) of these conditions of service, which provides for a five year non-pensionable contilet in the first place. They say it is not appropriate in the case of lictropolitan Police Officers, and that the Ufficer concerned will be made a revised offor, though it may not be possible to do this before he sails. the revised offer he will go straight on to the
Under pensionable establishment of the Hong Kong Police
/Service, and
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