CONFIDENTIAL
4.
and
after these raids were intensified to about 3 to 4; perhaps more significantly, gang fighting virtually ceased. Less happily, these measures also adversely affect some businesses, especially in the catering trade, which do a good business in the late and early hours. There are risks in the continuous maintenance of road blocks over a long period, for they may ultimately cause irritation on the part of the general public. Already some criticism of the stop and search operations is being voiced by academically-minded expatriate lawyers, and although at present their strictures arouse no response from the population at large, the publication of them may promote unwelcome interest among people outside Hong Kong who lack the benefit of accurate and up-to-date information on the situation and the state of Chinese public opinion.
8.
The plain truth however is that, no matter how active the Police may be, what matters to these thugs in the final analysis is the fear of being effectively dealt with on being caught. Unhappily it is increasingly the case that those who indulge in violence in Hong Kong are all too often indifferent to the more lenient and enlightened forms of correction which we have increasingly introduced here.
9.
Traditionally one of the most powerful and effective forms of deterrent to criminals in Hong Kong used to be the threat of deportation. As you are aware this deterrent has, for a good many years now, virtually ceased to be employed except in rare cases, since neither the Taiwanese nor the CPG authorities have been prepared to accept the deportation of criminals. To cater for this situation, resort was had in the late 1950's to the device of detention in lieu of deportation where a person liable to deportation could not in fact be deported. This too served its purpose for a number of years, but use of this sanction faded away some years ago, partly through the lack of any need for it at the time, and partly because
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.