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During this time the men suffered dreadfully from disease and some 283 soldiers, over half the regiment, had died by the end of December 1842, just three months after their arrival.
The Regiment was eventually brought on shore in February 1843 and established detachments at Saiwan and Stanley where they were employed keeping pirates away from the infant colony.
Conditions were so unhealthy that the regiment continued to suffer heavy casualties and special reinforcements had to be brought out from Britain in order to keep the strength up to an acceptable level.
The Regiment left Hong Kong in 1845, initially to return to Chusan before finally leaving the China Coast for India, where it arrived at Calcutta in November 1846.
Other predecessors of the Staffordshire Regiment also served in Hong Kong from 1872 to 1876, between 1949 and 1951, and from 1954 to 1956.
In more recent times, the 1st Battalion saw active service in the Gulf War in 1991. The battalion is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Jim Tanner.
End
Water Supplies Department aims to reduce water main bursts
The Water Supplies Department is committed to improving its services to the community and has been working hard to reduce the number of water main bursts, a spokesman for the department said today (Friday).
Commenting on a report on the problem of water main bursts released by the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints (COMAC) today, the spokesman said the department had provided a great deal of information and analyses of statistics to COMAC to facilitate his investigation.
"The whole issue is a very complicated one, encompassing engineering and legal matters.
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