498
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 18TH NOVEMBER, 1871.
The Statement is as follows:
Statement, by the Honorable PHINEAS RYRIE, a Member of the Legislative Council of Hongkong, of a question which he was desirous of submitting for debate to the Council at its Meeting on the 18th October, 1871, and of his reasons for deeming such question a proper oue för consideration and discussion in Council.
1. The matter I wished to bring before the Council was directly connected with the privileges of the Members of the Council and was, in effect, an attack upon the freedom of speech, conceded to them by law and custom, and essential to the faithful performance of their duties to the Sovereign by whom they are appointed.
2. Stated briefly, it is as follows:--At the meeting of the Legislative Council held on the 22nd September last, upon the discussion in Committee, of the Estimates for next year, I asked a question with reference to the duties of the Registrar General's Department, based on certain reports which had reached me, and which I then believed to be thoroughly well founded, and which, whether well or ill founded, I deemed to be and still deem a fit and proper subject for inquiry in Council while the Estimates were under discussion.
3. Of what followed in Council I now say nothing, as it in no way affects the present question. I need only add that my question was taken as implying a charge against the Department of the Registrar General.
4. On the 25th September last, I received from the Colonial Secretary, the Honorable J. GARDINER AUSTIN, a letter worded as follows:-
"No. 461.
"COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
"HONGKONG, 25th September, 1871.
"SIR,-With reference to the charge which you preferred against the Registrar General's Department at the last meeting of the Legislative Council, of having sent a copy of a confidential document to Chinese Officials at Canton, I am directed by His Excellency the Lieutenant- Governor to acquaint you that at the next meeting of Council you will be expected to substan- tiate your charge.-I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient Servant,
"(Signed,) J. GARDINER AUSTIN,”
“Colonial Secretary.”
"The Honorable P. RYRIE,"
"SC., Fc.,
&c."
5. I did not reply to that letter, I protest against it and against the act of the Government in addressing such a letter to me as a inanifest violation of the privileges accorded the Legis lative Council, and every Member of it, in respect of every thing said by them in Council. The standing Orders and Rules of the Legislative Council of Hongkong guarantee to the Members freedom of speech and immunity from question at any time by the Government for anything they have said in Council. If no such Order were in existence, the freedom of speech, and immunity from question it affords to Members, would, nevertheless, exist as of right from the very nature of their appointment, and of the duties which devolve on them, duties impossible of performance unless every Member of the Council is assured that he may speak fully and freely on all points, and make such statements or ask such questions as he may think proper, subject only to the censure of the Council, whether that censure is conveyed tacitly, by the reception accorded the speaker, or, explicitly by a formal resolution recorded in the Minutes of the Council.
6. That letter and the breach of privilege committed, in my opinion, by the writer of it and by the Government that sanctioned it, I desired to bring to the notice of the Council ca the 15th October, not by way of motion, but by a simple statement which should leave the Members at liberty to deal with the matter as they thought fit, and my reasons for thinking that such statement should properly be made in Council, and that any discussion thereon should take place in Council, are very simple.
7. The Members of Council could alone determine the question of privilege raised by the act of the Government in sending such a letter to me. They must each say how such a letter would operate upon them, and if it could be taken as a simple notice, or must be regarded a threat. Every one of the Members, Officials and non-Officials, were interested in the settle ment of the point, and they alone could effectively by their votes, by their protest, appeal to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, put an end to a systema so destructive of the efficiency of the Council.
or by an
8. If such a letter was not a violation of the Standing Orders and Rules of the Council, the sooner Members understood that they must not ask questions, the better. If the letter wa an attack on the freedom of speech accorded the Legislative Councillors of the Crown, it was
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