ch. xxi THE MILITARY AND POLICE FORCES 205 
were replaced by the King’s African Rifles, who had 
previously been mainly held in reserve at various 
centres and used as a striking force. 
The discipline of the force leaves little to be desired. 
A certain amount of dissatisfaction with regard to it 
certainly exists, but probably this is more comparative 
than real. The standard maintained by the King’s 
African Rifles is so high that any other body must 
almost inevitably suffer if judged by the same standard. 
This superiority of the soldiery is to be accounted for 
by the high traditions connected with the regiment, the 
slightly higher scale of pay accorded to the men, and 
by the splendid type of officer which the prospect of 
good pay and fine sport attracts. The amount of petty 
crimes in the police force has undoubtedly been in the 
past greater than it should have been ; it is, however, 
steadily diminishing and there can be little doubt that 
under the sound administration to which the police are 
now subject it will not be long before these crimes 
show a satisfactory reduction. 
In 1909-10 some 2,400 persons were arrested or 
summoned, and about 1,900 were convicted or per¬ 
mitted to compound their offences. In 1910-11 the 
proportion was 5,733 and 4,536. This is doubtless a 
fairly satisfactory proportion, but in dealing with natives 
who have very little regard for truth and very little fear 
of prison it is unsafe to draw too many conclusions. 
The police have naturally to employ native detectives, 
a proportion of whom, at all events, have a personal 
knowledge of the inside of a cell. There is reason to 
fear that in their desire to get convictions these gentry 
are not actuated by quite the same sense of justice as, 
say, the London police. Possibly I may be slightly 
prejudiced through having suffered on one occasion 
