Sessional_Paper_1921 — Page 52

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2. Criticism of the personnel has been mainly directed against the performance of Fire Brigade duties by Police Officers who in the ordinary course of their duties have plenty to do, and it is argued that they cannot efficiently perform the two functions of Police and Firemen. This is true and particularly so when there is a large crop of fires as has occurred during the past 6 months. It may also be said with equal truth that with the development of the Colony, particularly the City of Victoria and the Kowloon Peninsula, the present arrangements are likely to lead to more marked in- efficiency in the Brigade in the future. The work of the Brigade is increasing year by year and the question must now be considered whether it should not be reconstituted by eliminating the Police Volunteers and substituting therefor a purely professional Fire Brigade consisting of a small number of professional European firemen with a locally trained Chinese Staff of firemen.

3. The arguments in favour of the present system are mainly that the European Police Firemen though not highly trained have more initiative, are more daring and work harder and more efficiently than the average Chinese Fireman, particularly at the commencement of operations when steadiness and initiative may mean the saving of lives and much valuable property. From my own personal experience at fires, I must admit that the Chinese Firemen as a whole do not at present show either any great initiative or any over great zeal in the performance of their duties. I cannot help thinking, however, that this is mainly due to the fact that they lack the necessary opportunity to display the qualities required of a good fireman. At present they do what I may call the coolie work of the Brigade only, such as running out and coupling up hose and generally assisting the European Firemen, who hold all positions of responsibility. When the outbreak is got under they stand by and make up the hose which again is only the manual labour of the Brigade. Properly and regularly drilled and working together under professional guidance, I am satisfied that they would become thoroughly efficient and by reason of the experience gained in working together at fires, they should in time become quite capable of dealing successfully with outbreaks of fire.

4. One obvious drawback of the present system is the division of the Brigade into European and Chinese sections. Most of the European Firemen do not speak Chinese and confusion is apt to arise from the failure of the one to understand the other. In this connection it will be essential in any reorganization of the Brigade that the Europeans in Charge should be sufficiently acquainted with Chinese to make themselves understood. Again the control exercised over the European Firemen (who are first and foremost policemen) by the professional European Staff is not as satisfactory as it would be were all the men under their entire control. The arrangements necessary under present conditions, which at times place a Senior Police Officer under the orders of a junior professional fireman or even a junior Police Officer, who has become a foreman in the Brigade by reason of his outstanding merit, obviously lead to friction at times. Needless to say, such an arrangement is avoided as far as possible but cannot be entirely elimi- nated in the Brigade as at present constituted.

5. By having all the members of the Brigade entirely under his control, by giving all the members an equal share in all the work of the Brigade and by having the same men always working together at fires, the Officer in charge should be able in time to bring the Chinese firemen up to a level of efliciency even greater than that attained at present under the mixed Brigade system. The matter of equipment will of course also enter very largely into the question of the efficiency of the Brigade, but first and foremost the personnel must be thoroughly trained in the performance of its duties so that each man knows the precise nature of his particular work on each occasion, and all mixing up of sections and duties which is unavoidable where the same men are not always available may be entirely eliminated. With firemen drawn from the Police, only those available i.c., off Police duty at the time of the outbreak can be made use of, and they necessarily differ from day to day. It is thus but rarely possible to get the same men working together and efficiency must suffer in consequence.

6. My recommendations, as far as the personnel of the Brigade is concerned, are set forth in detail in Appendix B. The following table shows the principal changes proposed:

EXISTING BRIGADE. Superintendent, C.S.P.

1 Engineer.

1 Assistant Superintendent.

PROPOSED BRIGADE.

Chief Officer (Administrative), C.S.P,

1 Superintendent, (New).

1 Engineer.