58
No. 30.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 10TH FEBRUARY, 1877.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Report from the Captain Superintendent of Police, for the year 1876, is published for general information.
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J. GARDINER AUSTIN, Colonial Secretary.
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Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 5th February, 1877.
[No. 16.]
VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 31st January, 1877.
SIR,-I have the honour to forward, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, the Annual Police Report, Statistics for the Blue Book, and Returns of Crime for the year 1876.
2. Compared with the returns for the year 1875, an increase of 19.43 per cent is shown on all cases reported; an increase exists of 6.45 on Serious Crime, and of 23.86 on Minor Offences.
3. The increase in Serious Crime is caused by 11 more cases of Highway Robbery, and by 121 more cases of Larceny occurring than in 1875. Of the reports of highway robbery, two were false, and in eight cases the property stolen was so small as to average under the value of $4 in each case. On one occasion only was property worth more than $25 stolen, and that case deserves partica- lar comment. Four men conspired together to obtain money from a Chinese Bank. One of them induced the Manager to send a coolie with him with about $500. He took the coolie to Zetland Street, where he was joined by his three confederates, and together they maltreated the coolie; and escaped for the time with $266. The coolie subsequently died on the Mainland from the wounds inflicted. Within a week, full information was received as to the guilty parties, who had, in the mean- while, escaped from the Colony, but owing, to the co-operation of H. B. M.'s Consul at Canton and of the Chinese Authorities, two of the men were shortly afterwards arrested and judged by the Chinese Tribunals.
4. The increase in Miscellaneous Offiences is caused by the number of persons arrested as Men- dicants and as unlicensed Hawkers.
5. With regard to the Mendicants, arrangements have been made for the reception by the Chinese Authories of all Lepers sent to Canton. There has consequently been a marked decrease in the number of Mendicants of this class found within the last few months in the Colony. The Government have ordered the erection of some cells near the Police Stables at West Point for the temporary detention of Lepers, and an Ordinance awaits confirmation which authorises the Officer in command of the Police to deport such persons forthwith.
6. The number of unlicensed Hawkers is very large, and they cause a great deal of obstruction. It would be desirable if more Market accommodation could be afforded in the City. The out-villages have, as a rule, so increased in size, that it will be necessary to apply throughout the Colony the law as to the taking out of licences by Hawkers. At the same time, I think it would be more convenient if the licensing of Hawkers (and of Chair Coolies) should be transferred from the Registrar General's to the Police Department. The law, moreover, should be enlarged so as to deal with Marine Hawkers, Hawkers of goods on board ships, and with Barbers and other persons carrying on business in the Streets.
7. The consolidation of the Deportation Ordinances was a work that was much needed; for the punishment for Breach of Conditional Pardon was simply the completion of the original sentence, and when this was done, branded men might live without molestation in the Colony; but now they can be re-deported. During 1876, 49 Chinese prisoners were deported and 28 released from Gaol on Condi- As shown in Table tional Pardons granted, as a rule, on the completion of half the term of sentence.
D., 27 men were arrested for being found in the Colony after having been deported or pardoned con- ditionally.
8. There has been a decrease in the number of Gambling cases, but the law on this point is still, in this Colony, very defective. An Ordinance was passed in 1876 that renewed the lapsed penalties against holding certain lotteries, but no advantage was taken of certain useful clauses that have appeared in Acts of Parliament in Great Britain, notably as to what is sufficient evidence of a house being used for Public Gaming, and what shall be deemed sufficient evidence of Gaming. During the last year, owing to its sudden prohibition by the Canton Authories, the fighting of crickets was carried on to an unprecedented extent, and large sums of money changed hands in betting thereon. It was obvious that neither the law concerning Cruelty to Animals, nor the Vagrant Act, nor the local Gambling Ordinance applied, and an application to the Magistrate for a summons against the householder for keeping a disorderly house was refused. The keepers of these houses, therefore, remained unmolested and unpunished.
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