ENG-1957 — Page 348

298

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

hour's duration, six full days training and fifteen days train- ing at camp. The commitment is scaled down elsewhere to the particular requirement of the unit in question. An allowance designed to cover out-of-pocket expenses is granted for attendance at instructional parades, while for a full day's training and for attending camp, officers and members are paid at the daily rate at which they would be paid on mobilization.

The Royal Hong Kong Defence Force. The main units of the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force are the Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, which mans and operates two motor minesweepers; the Hong Kong Regiment, with the strength and equipment of an infantry battalion at lower establishment; Force Headquarters Units, comprising a Light Troop (4.2 inch Mortars) and other specialized forma- tions; the Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force equipped with Harvard and Auster aircraft; the Home Guard; the Hong Kong Women's Naval Volunteer Reserve; the Hong Kong Women's Auxiliary Army Corps; and the Hong Kong Women's Auxiliary Air Force. The officers of the Force are found amongst its members, but there is in addition a small permanent staff of regular officers and non-commissioned officers attached for training purposes.

Volunteer Service in Hong Kong began with the formation on 30th May, 1854, of the Hong Kong Volunteers. In 1878 they were renamed the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps and in 1917 the Hong Kong Defence Corps. In 1920 the title was again changed to the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps.

The Corps was mobilized, about 1,400 strong, to meet the Japanese attack on the Colony on 8th December, 1941, and fought with the Regular Forces against overwhelming odds until ordered to surrender on 25th December, 1941. In 1956 their action was vividly recalled when part of the old Colours of the Corps, which had been buried in December 1941 to avoid capture by the Japanese, was discovered by workmen excavating a building site on Garden Road. The officers who