ENG-1961 — Page 242

LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS

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be barristers, and Crown Counsel and Legal Officers who may be barristers or solicitors and who have a statutory right of audience on behalf of the Crown before any court or tribunal in the Colony.

The Attorney General and the Solicitor General are entitled in the courts of the Colony to the same rights as are enjoyed by the Attorney General and the Solicitor General in England.

The Attorney General is the titular head of the local Bar.

THE HONG KONG POLICE FORCE

The Hong Kong Police are faced with problems common to all large cities and sea-ports. Whereas each territory has its peculiar problems, those with which the Police in Hong Kong are principally concerned are narcotics, bribery and corruption, illegal immigra- tion and traffic.

Although each of these has its own specific causes, the geographical position of the Colony, the pressure of population within a small area, the busy flow of trade and the temptation of high profits regardless of moral considerations are contributing factors common to them all. The most pernicious problem is trafficking in narcotics, for local conditions have made Hong Kong an advantageous centre for this activity. For a number of years one of the major tasks of the Police Force has been the pursuit, in close co-operation with the Preventive Service of the Commerce and Industry Department, of those who take advantage of these conditions. Many of these criminals are members of efficient organizations with world-wide connexions who seek to exploit Hong Kong as a drug manufacturing and distributing centre.

Opium and its derivatives morphine and heroin are the principal drugs. Hong Kong does not itself produce opium, but supplies are imported illegally. Morphine is also smuggled into the Colony and then taken to illicit 'factories' operated by skilled chemists where it is converted to heroin. These 'factories' are often cunningly concealed in houses in good residential areas where the manufac- turers spare no pains to hide their supplies and equipment. Detec- tion is always difficult.

In its efforts to eradicate the evil of drug-addiction, the Govern- ment is advised by a Standing Committee composed of the