TNAG-0190-FCO40-226-Title--Royal--conferred-on-Hong-Kong-police-and-auxiliary-po-1969 — Page 35

(a) Corruption:

the Hong Kong Government are constantly

seeking ways and means of combatting corruption. The Governor announced in the Legislative Council at the end of February that a new and somewhat stringent ärart anti- bribery Bill was being considered. He stated at the same time that a new disciplinary code, likewise aimed at corruption, was being prepared for the public service.

(b) Allegations of Police violence during the 1967 disturbances:

there have been allegations of violence by the Police towards persons in their custody during the 1967 disturbances, These have been grossly exaggerated. A total of five persons died whilst in Police custody during the period in question. In four of these cases, the persons concerned had been a restedon occasions when extreme violence had been resorted to in attempts to resist the efforts of the Police to maintain law and order: the persons concerned had received injuries almost certainly incurred in the course of their arrest from which they subaequcntly died. An enquiry

was held into each case: two of the deaths were found to be due to misadventure, one was found to be accidental and one to be justifiable homicide. In the fifth case, three Police Officers were charged with the murder and convicted with the manslaughter of the person concerned, However,

the convictions were all quashed on appeal on the grounds of the weakness and incompleteness of the evidence. Praise of the conduct of the Hong Kong Police was widespread in the U.K. Press throughout 1967. Peter Younghusband, of the London 'Daily Mail', wrote at the height of the

disturbances :-

"Throughout the acutest provocation the police have

shown outstanding immaculate discipline and restraint. In all my reporting experience, including police action in the worst trouble spots in Africa in the past seven years, I have seen nothing like it."

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