A Chinese, recruit takes fou months 40 complete his course, and, to replace normal wastage, about 200 men must pass through the trainings depot in the year. Owing, however, to the continued expansion lof the industrial and residential di tricts, there is usually a big increase Ju personnel to be trained im ade Any anan wishing to join the police may present himself at the Depot parade ground at 10.30 fon Saturday mornings. Applicants are formed in single ranks, some. mes as_many as 1,000 parading oe time. "Any ma who appente suitable is asked quick easy ques tions, such as his home, ngo, foner employment, ete., a Chinese Impsoefor being in attendance. In this way the place of origin can be determined by his dialect and those from the desired districts ate select. ed, Age can be checked owing to the fact that each your in every twelve bears the name of an animal in continually recurring sequence: the year of the rat, the year of the dragon, and so on." A' Chinese who looks thirty-five and says he. twenty-eight is immadintely asked the animals in the book" for. his year of birth. Unless he has giver. his correct age, or has worked it Jout beforehand, which ig. unusual, hho can seldom' calewlate" the. right animal in time to be convincing, Men who answer smartly, have good physique, and stand over five foot five inches in height are picked out for further tests—usually: not more. than 10 per cent. of the applicants, 'Those men run 100 yards, and those, found to be in an obviously une healthy condition azo rejected, The remainder report Jater for a' reads ing and writing test, in- which, a rule, fifty per cent, fail to pose iceessful mon then visit the Muni= cipal doctor, who usually finds about three men in twelve unsuitable for police work. The survivors, if their Ainger-prints show no criminal record, obtain a shop security bond for Mitty taels to cover cost of unie form and equipment, and may then be posted to the Depot. The finger prints of men dismissed or abseonde are registered inthe "Finger: Prints Bureau C.LD., so that these. men cannot rejoin some years late without being detected,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.