efficient head should be provided for the Police Force which they considered to be in a disorganized state and that a Commission should be appointed without delay to inquire into be real causes of the defective state of the Force. A public meeting (September, 1871), attended by upwards of 350 residents, gave expression to the general sense of insecurity under which the community laboured, and to their strong disapprobation of the neglect which, it was alleged, had characterized the action of the Executive with regard to the police. A Memorial was forwarded to the Colonial Office, praying for the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry. Before Earl Kimberley's reply, negativing this request, reached the Colony, Sir Richard had, immediately upon his return, appointed (December, 1871) a Commission according to the wishes of the community (T. C. Hayllar, W. Keswick, F. W. Mitchell, F. Stewart, H. Lowcock, W. Lemann, George Falconer, and A. Lister). One of the principal subjects of inquiry was the question whether the plan of divided authority, by leaving the district watchmen under the separate control of the Registrar General, should be continued. It was principally on this point that the views of the Commission and of the Governor were divided, and the bifurcation had to continue. Whilst leaving a reform of the police to his successor, Sir Richard started, before leaving the Colony, what was virtually a new department for the suppression of gambling, by relieving the Police Force from this duty and handing it over to personal efforts to be made by two former Cadets, the Registrar General and the Superintendent of Police. This appointment of two gentlemen detectives, with which was connected a handsome remuneration, was viewed by the community as a mere excuse for filling the pockets of the Governor's 'boys.'
Sir Richard's energy and severity as a disciplinarian was bound to exercise a deterrent influence as regards crime. There never was any Governor in Hongkong who inspired the criminal classes with such a genuine dread of his personal vigilance and of his measures. They soon found that the licensed, gaming houses
