Sessional_Paper_1893 — Page 832

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acting under the authority conferred on the Registrar General by the said Ordinance, and the present system seems to be more satisfactory. The Committee have been fully alive to the temptations to which Chinese detectives, as a class, are liable, and have, from time to time, dispensed with the services of the detectives though they have never been able to obtain proof of any case of extortion on the part of their employés. The follow- ing is a list of the ex-detectives of the Society together with their period of service and cause of leaving the service of the Society :-

Name.

Date of joining the service.

WONG MAN Iu,... May-June 1881.

Date of leaving the service.

August to September 1884. Resigned.

November 1884.

September-October 1886.

MOK KAI,

Do.

WONG IU,

March 1884.

MA MUN,

November 1886.

October 1887.

FUNG SHAN,

CHUNG Ü,

September 1886.

April 1887.

At end of three months, period for which!

he was engaged.

March 1889.

November-Dec. 1888.

10th April 1892.

Reason.

Dismissed for neglect of

duty. Dismissed.

Dismissed.

Dismissed.

AU PUN,.

Returned to duty as district watchman.

About the beginning of this year, the question of detectives was discussed with the Registrar General, and it was agreed that, in order to prevent abuses, the detectives should be changed as frequently as possible, and it was thought that might be done by borrowing the services of District Watchmen, who would be paid by the Society, and who could be employed for short periods, at the end of which they could be sent back to their regular duty in the District Watchmen Force. Both the present detectives Mok CHI and KWONG CHEUNG belong to the District Watchmen Force. The former has been employed in the work of the Society since November 1888, and his services have been retained on account of the good work he has done, and of the great number of convictions he has obtained in kidnapping cases. The records of these cases can be found among the Magistracy archives. The latter has been employed by the Society for 2 months. He has performed his duties well. It is intended that he should come under the short service system described above, and be sent back to duty in the District Watchmen Force ere long. Though one of the rules approved by the Secretary of State expressly states that detectives and other constables may be placed at the service of the Society by the Governor, that rule has never been put in practice, the Society having always employed and paid for its own detectives. It will be seen, therefore, that we have tried, so far as we have been able, to increase the efficiency of the Society, and, at the same time, have also endeavoured to prevent abuses arising.

The Society meets in a building opposite the Tung Wa Hospital, which has been kindly placed at the disposal of the Society by the Directors of that Institution. That building is open to any respectable visitor at all times. It is in that building that we have our meetings and hold our inquiries. At such inquiries, it is necessary that at least two of the Committee should be present, and all reports of such inquiries must be signed by two of the members of the Committee-a rule introduced by your Chairman as Registrar General several years ago. As a matter of fact, there are generally more than two present, though the work of the Society, for which all the members of the Committee are responsible, generally falls upon a few of the most active members-a state of things which, we understand, is not uncommon among similar societies in other countries. No woman or girl ever comes under the protection of the Society without the authorities being acquainted with the fact. Every woman or girl is brought before the Registrar General before being entrusted to the care of our Society. On rare occasions, girls are sent to us direct by the Police authorities, though, as a general rule, such girls also go to the Registrar General in the first instance, and are sent by him to the Society.