112211-1927-Supplementary-Bills-read-a-first-time--Jesuit-Order-Incorporation-General-Loan-and-Inscribed-Stock-Amendment-Medical-Registration-Amendment-Watchmen — Page 12

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demand. The scheme has evidently been appreciated by employers, The police are in a better position than indivi- dual employers to select the best men and to weed out the less desirable men. The employers also get the advantage of police supervision and control, and better discipline can be kept with less tromble to the employer. Incidentally, the system is of much use for police purposes." "At the present day, with the exception of the Kowloon and Taikoo Dock Companies, most of the principal employers of watchmen get their men through the police. The system has now grown to such an extent that it seems desirable to regulate it by Ordinance.

2. The proposed Ordinance and regulations are on the whole intended to embody the existing practice, with one #important exception. That exception is that in future no unregistered person will be allowed to net, as a wṛtelman, and no employer will be allowed to employ an unregis- gistered person as watchman.

3. Two points require special explanation. One relates to a particular provision of the Ordinance which is a little complicated, and which may appear rather, artificial, but which seems to be the only practical solution of the par- ticular problem with which it deals. Most of the watch- men supplied and supervised by the Captain, Superinten- dent of Police are Indians, but there are also 50 Chinese watchmen. There are also from time to time watchmen of other nationalities and race. Two things seem obvious. One is that the termi "watchman must be defined widely in order to include all the persons whom it is desired to include." The other is that it would be impossi- ble for the Captain Superintendent of Police to attempt to supply and supervise all persons of Chinese race who are employed in the Colony in protecting property or prevent- ing crime or maintaining order, and it would also be undesirable. Accordingly section 4 (d) of the Ordiüance provides that the Ordinance shall not apply to persons of Chinese race unless allowed by the Captain Superintendent of Police to register themselves in the Watchmen's Register established under the Ordinance. Such Chinese registered watchmen will be subject to the Ordinance and regulations generally, but it will be no offence for an uuregistered Chinese watchman to act as such, and it will be no offence for an employer to employ an unregistered Chinese person as a watchinab.

4. The other point which requires special explanation refers to ship's guards. At present the employment of ship's guards is compulsory for all ships which come within the scope of the Piracy Prevention Ordinance, 1914 These guards have to be obtained from the Captain Superintendent of Police and they are supervised by him and are paid through him. That Ordinance is about to be repealed, and the present system under which shipowners enter into bonds binding them to employ guards and to comply with various other provisions wid soon come to án end. When that repeal takes place there will be no obligation on shipowners under the laws relating to piracy obliging them to employ ship's guards. There will also be nothing in the present Ordinance or the regulations to be made under it which will require shipowners to employ ship's guards, but if they do employ ship's guards within the Colouy, they will have to obtam them from the Captain Superintendent of Police. The ship's guards supplied will, however, in future be entirely under the control of the shipowner who employs them, and they will not be under the supervision of the Captain Superinten- dent of Police, and will not be paid throngh him. The Captain Superintendent of Police will still have one hold over these ship's guards because he will be able to remove an undesirable person from the Watchmen's Register, and the effect of that will be that a man can no longer be employed as a ship's guard. He will also be able, us a less drastic measure, to remove a ship's guard from any particular employment upon supplying a substitute if the shipowner desires one. Ship's guards will also have to carry a licence book and badge.

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