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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 23RD NOVEMBER, 1878.
to make it. Well, that was a delicate distinction he did not recognize. Visiting Justices, before asking the Police Magis- trate to take a step the Ordinance would not justify, should have taken the trouble to read the Ordinance, and then they would not have put him in the position of having to refuse to comply with a request which he could not lawfully grant.
The ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.-I may state, your Excellency, that when Mr. CREAGH received the first letter he brought it to me and asked my opinion as to the answer he should give. I told him, on looking at the Ordinance, I thought he had no power to accede to the application, but I advised that he should send in an official letter to the Attorney General on the face of which the Attorney General could give an opinion. That he did, and the Attorney General gave his opionion that the Police Magistrate had no power to call such a meeting or to preside over it.
The Honourable W. KESWICK Said Mr. CREAGH was thanked for his communication, and there was no imputation of his having done anything contrary to what he ought to have done in the letter. The question of discussing the building was not gone into. It was considered entirely settled.
The ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE.-Your Excellency, I have at various times had occasion to consider this Ordinance, 4 of 1863, but I have not considered it with reference to the question now before the Council with any great care. Therefore any opinion I may express must be received with that qualification. As to the first letter I should say this, that, as the Honourable gentleman (Mr. KESWICK) admits, it was not quite within the scope of the Visiting Justices' duties to go into the structure of the Gaol. I think that was beyond their powers, and that Mr. CREAGH very properly declined to preside at a meeting where that question was to be taken into consideration. No doubt that is a question for the Executive to consider, and it would not be for the Justices of the Peace to enter into it. But, I understand that they then requested Mr. CREAGH to convene a meeting for another purpose. I would merely say, with regard to that, I think the Police Magistrate rather went beyond what he was called upon to do in expressing an opinion as to whether the rules were such as met all the requirements of the case, and I think, considering the important position which Justices of the Peace occupy in regard to the Gaol regulations, it would have been better if he had allowed the meeting to take place and had heard what these gentlemen had to say. I don't think it would have been illegal for him to have done that, but, with regard to the first question, I think Mr. CREAGH was decidedly right.
The Honourable H. LowсOCK.-Your Excellency, we have wandered so far, unconsciously perhaps, from the subject we were called upon to discuss, that I will merely refer now as shortly as possible to what I wished to say on Gaol accom- modation, for I need scarcely waste the time of the Council in making many remarks, as I so thoroughly agree with the arguments of my Honourable friend opposite (Mr. KESWICK). I do not believe in the necessity for the Colony being burdened with the enormous outlay and contingent expense that either the enlargement of the present Gaol on the scale suggested by some, or its removal to another site, will throw upon us, for in considering this subject it must be borne in mind that there will not only be the cost of the buildings in either case, but there will be the extra expense of Warders and Turnkeys, and as, if we enlarge the Gaol, it will, under our present system, certainly be filled, there will also be the cost of maintaining the increased number of prisoners, in itself no small item. I do not, I say, believe in the necessity for all this, as I am convinced that with certain changes in the discipline and management of our present Gaol it may be rendered amply sufient for the requirements of the Colony. If the punishments awarded to crime are not sufficient to prevent it, severer measures must be adopted, and such severer punishments and the carrying into effect of the separate system in the prison, will, I am sure, soon cause a decrease of crime in the Colony and thus do away with the necessity of increased Gaol accommodation. That our Gaol discipline has not been sufficiently deterrent I think is evident from the number of old offenders who persistently return to it and look on it as their home, and I argue that an enlargement to any extent of the Gaol would simply be providing a residence for a still larger number who would look on it as an invitation to Hongkong to commit what crimes they like with the simple alternative, if detected, of retiring to a home of comparative ease and comfort. Should the present building not admit of alteration for a sufficient number of separate cells, I am sure there is ample space on some part of the present site or on some part of the adjacent Government property, on which the necessary addition might be made without any very serious outlay, and if the deportation laws are judiciously carried into effect, there is no reason why we should have to maintain any larger number, if as many prisoners as we do now, while if the present punishment for returning from deportation is not sufficiently deterrent let means be devised for making it so, for I see no reason why those whose presence here is a constant source of danger to the peace of the Colony should be allowed to remain in it. At the last meeting of Council your Excellency made allusion to and gave some particulars of the recommendation of the Magistrates and the Superintendent of the Gaol for deportation, also to the Supreme Court sentences, and from your Excellency's remarks, it would appear there has been some difference of opinion as to the working of the Deportation Ordi- It seems that several sentences of deportation have been disallowed on the plea of the illegality of the warrants owing to some discrepancy in the dates, and though Sir JOHN SMALE held the warrants were out of order it is believed that the present Acting Chief Justice held a different opinion, and it would be interesting to learn the opinions of the Attorney General and Puisne Judge on so important a matter, and to learn also why fresh legal warrants could not have been granted to meet the cases, as, I believe, in this action Sir JOHN SMALE would have concurred. With the view therefore of throwing as much light on this subject as possible, which I am sure your Excellency will agree is most desirable, I beg to give notice of the following resolution :--
nances.
"To move that the correspondence between the Government and the Supreme Court, the Magistrates, and the Police Department, with reference to every case reported or recommended to the Executive for deportation since April, 1877, be laid on the table."
The Honourable T. C. HAYLLAR referred to the great fluctuations in the number of prisoners to be provided for, and after pointing out that the question really depended on what amount of space would be required for the separate system, suggested that an inquiry might be instituted into that question.
The Honourable P. RYRIE said his great objection to the first three plans which had been submitted was their extreme costliness. He did not think the Colony, with all the other useful and necessary work to be undertaken, was called upon to incur that expenditure. With regard to Stone Cutter's Island, he thought the four miles of water intervening was