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Kong Auxiliary Police Force. Their basic powers are much wider than those of the United Kingdom police. Any police officer may arrest without warrant any person he reasonably suspects may be guilty of an offence; further, he may enter on de- mand and search any place where any person to be arrested is thought to be present. Section 54 of the Police Ordin- ance further permits any policeman to stop, search, and if necessary arrest and detain anyone "who acts in a suspicious manner or whom he may suspect of hav- ing committed or of being about to com- mit or of intending to commit any offence" (Rear, in Hopkins, op cit). The Hong Kong police are armed. A special danger arises as police officers may exer- cise these powers in plain clothes. At least two people have been shot and killed while resisting detention by plain clothed police.
The courts too have wide powers of de- tention. The 1973 District Court (Amend- ments) Act cut the number of trials by jury, and increased the sentencing power of district court judges to seven years' imprisonment. As there is no shorthand record of district court proceedings and judges' notes are frequently incomplete, it is extremely difficult to bring an effec- tive appeal against a verdict. One of Hong Kong's Supreme Court judges com- mented that "the administration of jus- tice is viewed in this part of the world as of secondary importance and with con- tempt" (The Times, 9 November 1974). It should also be noted that judicial ap- pointments in Hong Kong have until re- cent times always been made from among legal officers in the government service so that the judiciary is, in effect, a gov- ernment department of which the head is the Chief Justice. With the exception of Supreme Court judges there is no for- mal guarantee that judicial officers will not be moved to some other post in the government service.
The normal, day-to-day powers of the police and courts are backed, should pub- lic order break down, by two other in- struments. First, there are the Emergency Regulations which confer sweeping and comprehensive powers upon the Gover-
nor. Second, there are the British Armed Forces. As the official Hong Kong Gov- ernment Report Hong Kong 1975 de- clares: "The Armed Forces are stationed in Hong Kong to assist the government in maintaining security and stability.” It is for this that the British tax payer is currently paying £40 million a year. No- one, simply no-one, believes that these forces would have any value if the Chinese Army attacked the Colony. Britain's largest overseas garrison is essen- tially part of the muscle for a business- man's regime.
what does Britain gain? What does Britain gain from possession of this Colony, apart from a bad reputa- tion? Traditionally it has been a centre for British trade with China and East Asia. Since 1949 that role has not been a major one, yet the potential for trade with China today is greater than ever. To have a foothold in China with banking, insurance, shipping, and legal services all in British hands is extremely useful, and may become more so. (The Colony's major British banks, the Hongkong and Shanghai and the Chartered, are the only Western banks to have offices in China- at Shanghai.)
But Britain's major economic gain in the post-war world has been the Colony's vast budget surpluses which were obliged to be remitted to London. Money which should have been spent on housing, edu- cation, and social services in Hong Kong has been used to bolster the United Kingdom's reserves and support the pound sterling. Rarely has exploitation of a colony by the metropolitan power been so direct. In the 1960s the Hong Kong reserves in London represented be- tween one quarter and one third of Bri- tain's gold and foreign exchange reserves. The disbandment of the sterling area has brought about a considerable reduction in the proportion of Hong Kong money held in London, but it is still believed to be in the region of £350 million.
While the British
British Government, and people, have gained in one way, private
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