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LOCAL FORCES AND CIVIL DEFENCE SERVICES

Road. The officers who had hidden the Colours had died in captivity, leaving no record of where the Colours might be found. The remnants of the old Colours were paraded on the Annual Review of the Defence Force in March 1958 and were afterwards laid up in St John's Cathedral. Decorations were conferred upon fifteen members of the Corps for their gallantry in battle and for later escapes from Japanese prison-camps in Hong Kong, and eighteen were mentioned in despatches.

After the war the Corps was reconstituted on 1st March 1949 as the Hong Kong Defence Force. Two years later, His late Majesty King George VI granted the title 'Royal', and in March 1957, Her Majesty the Queen awarded the Battle Honour 'Hong Kong' to the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force. This Honour is now emblazoned on the Regimental Colour and with the new title recognizes the part played by the Force's forerunner, the Volunteer Defence Corps, in 1941.

The Essential Services Corps proper consists of a number of units, each responsible for maintaining an essential service such as the supply of electricity, water, communications, etc. Each unit is principally staffed by persons already employed in the service but is reinforced as necessary by others. Since in an emergency most members would continue to perform duties in which they are already expert, the Corps requires less training than the Defence Force. It is now several thousands strong and training during the year included driving instruction, revolver practice and exercises in the berthing and manoeuvring of various types of marine craft.

The Auxiliary Medical Service is organized to provide first aid and hospital treatment for the population of the Colony in an emergency. It is built around the Medical and Health Depart- ment, the St John Ambulance Brigade and other members of the medical and nursing professions, but many people with no previous training in nursing and first aid have also been enrolled and trained to act as auxiliary nurses in hospitals or as first aid workers in the field.

Teams take part in regional exercises with the Civil Aid Services from time to time and demonstrations of First Aid were held during 1960 in several public places in Hong Kong and Kowloon. Practical training has been given in the wards of general