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THE ARMED SERVICES AND AUXILIARY SERVICES
Each unit is staffed mainly by a restricted number of volunteers employed by the departments or organisations concerned.
On the call out of units, members of the corps undertake, under a disciplinary code, special obligations in return for which they are entitled to substantial benefits appropriate to the abnormal conditions of service. Comprehensive plans for the operation of each essential service in times of civil disorder are constantly under review and co-ordinated with the police and military. Units of the corps hold occa- sional exercises to practise their role. The headquarters of units also take part in joint command and control exercises with the police and military.
The Civil Aid Services, founded in 1951 as a voluntary, disciplined, uniformed organisation to assist other regular emergency services in combating natural disasters and civil unrest, has gradually taken on a more diversified role. Apart from such emergency duties as reconnaissance and reporting of incidents, manning typhoon shelters and assisting in registration and feeding of the homeless, adult members can now be seen, as the situation demands, carrying out crowd control duties during government-sponsored campaigns; first aid, casualty handling, light and heavy search and rescue in respect of landslides, collapsed buildings, and persons lost or injured in the mountains; and anti-oil pollution duties.
The Civil Aid Services also provide a comprehensive despatch rider and radio communication service linking districts in the urban and rural areas. Training is being undertaken in forest and rural area patrolling to assist the conservation and forests division of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department in forest fire prevention and conservation matters.
The strength of the Civil Aid Services lies in the willingness of the volunteers, who are drawn from almost every walk of life in Hong Kong, to turn out at any time, no matter how inconvenient and inclement the weather, to perform arduous and un- pleasant duties. The Civil Aid Services comprise 3,800 trained adult male and female officers and members with a recruit cadre of 800.
On completion of a year's training, recruits are transferred to either a warden zone, a rescue or command unit, or one of the administrative divisions near their place of work or residence. The general emphasis in training is geared to the opera- tional role of the Civil Aid Services.
In addition to the adult wing of the Civil Aid Services, a junior wing, the Cadet Corps, has been in operation since 1968. The strength of the corps is 1,900 youths aged 14 to 18 years, with 200 recruits undergoing enrolment. The youths are recruited, in the main, from resettlement and other heavily congested urban areas into a cadet unit in the area in which they live. There are 20 units, but plans to increase the number of units and lower the age group to 12 years are being studied.
The aim of the Cadet Corps is to train boys to be good citizens. During their training, they are taught the basic skills as practised in the adult service, as well as camping, trekking, orientating, forestry conservation, life-saving and mountaineering. More advanced courses are held for the 17-18 age group in mechanical engineering
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