Page
MEMO:
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 25TH SEPTEMBER, 1869.
HONGKONG, 20th September, 1869.
459
1. In the London and China Express of the 8th July last, is published a Communication, dated the 13th May, from Mr. A. J. JOHNSTON, Secretary of the Anglo-American Municipal Council at Shanghai, in reply to some remarks made in the House of Lords last March reflecting on the general character of the population at Shanghai.
2. Mr. JOHNSTON endeavours to show that Statistics prove the population of Shanghai to be comparatively better conducted than that of Hongkong. He fortifies himself by reference to my Official Report of last April, and in doing so, makes such erroneous and extraordinary statements, that to pass them by in silence, when published in a Paper having extensive circulation, might create an injurious impression in the mind of the Public.
3. The following are Mr. JOHNSTON'S statements in his own language:--
"6. Perhaps, however, the most satisfactory argument is to be derived from official statistics, and I will therefore with your permission compare the police statistics of Shanghai with those of Hong Kong. I take Hong Kong alone, partly because its official returns are readily accessible, partly because it is situated in circumstances somewhat similar to those prevailing at Shanghai, but especially because, from the sweeping nature of the Duke of Somerset's remarks, one well authenticated fact in opposition to them is as good as a hundred.
"7. From the official report of 1888, published by the Captain Superintendent of Police at Hong Kong in the Hong Kong Government Gazette of the 12th April, 1869, it appears that the total strength of the police force in that colony was 633, viz., 118 Europeans, 328 coloured, and 192, Chinese. In Shanghai, for the same period, the police force numbered 105, viz., 39 Europeans and 66 Chinese. In both places the Chinese element in the police force is useful only against crime committed by Chinese, and, therefore, so far as the prevention of crime by Europeans is concerned, Hong Kong maintains 441 police against 39 in Shanghai. By the census taken in Hong Kong on the 31st December, 1867, published in the Hong Kong Government Gazette of 14th March, 1868, it appears that on that day the number of Foreigners of all nationalities resident in the colony was 3,551. Hence assuming, which may fairly be done, that the number of Foreigners leaving Hong Kong in 1868, about balanced the number arriving, it will appear that the police were in the proportion of about one to seven Foreign Residents.
8. In Shanghai the number of Foreigners at present is, exclusive of police, 4,699. Hence the Foreign police force is to the Foreign residents in the proportion of one to one hundred and twenty.
11
"9. As to crimes:-In Hong Kong during 1808 there were 1,033 convictions of Foreigners under the heads of "Murder," "Manslaughter," "Robbery with Violence," "Burglary,'
Burglary," "Assault," "Larceny," "Kidnapping," "Unlawful Possession," and "Piracy." This is a percentage on the whole number of Foreign residents of twenty-nine convictions for serious offences. In Shanghai for the period of twelve months, from April, 1863, to March, 1869, the number of Foreigners apprehended and convicted was 505, of which 387 were simple drunkenness, 17 were "Desertion," 2 were "Forgery" (of which one was an ex-employé of the Hong Kong Government), and 24 were "Furious Riding." Thus 135 may fairly represent the number of more or less serious crimes committed by Foreigners during the twelve months indicated. Of these the worst were three cases of "Cutting and Wounding," and 61 cases of "Assault." But 135 bears to 4,699 the proportion of 2.9 to 100, or exactly one-tenth of the Hong Kong percentage of convictions to the number of residents.
"10. It is obvious from the above figures that a much smaller police force is required to keep order in Shanghai than is required for a like purpose in Hong Kong, although Foreigners here are more numerous by 1,187 than in Hong Kong. It will further appear that, in spite of this, order is much more effectually maintained here than it is there, although Hong Kong is a colony under a well organised Government, regulated by English law, while in Shanghai we have to deal with the Courts of no less than twelve Foreign Governments.
"11. The deduction from my argument is, I trust, obvious that in comparison with Hong Kong alone Shanghai cannot justly be denominated a sink of iniquity exceeding in its immorality all other ports of Europe, America, and Asia.'
4. In the first place, Mr. JOHNSTON assumes in the above 7th paragraph, that the resident Hongkong Foreign Population was only 3,551 in 1868, and makes that number his standard of comparison for obtaining the ratio of crime to population in Hongkong and Shanghai, respectively. For such a purpose, all the Foreign Population under Police supervision should, in fairness, be included in Hong- kong, as well as Shanghai. The Census Returns from which that total was taken do not profess to include soldiers and seamen. Now, the Foreign Population, including seamen and soldiers, as well as residents and others from Goa, Manila and India, has for years been more than double the number stated by Mr. JOHNSTON, and was, at the last Census, shewn to be 7,699, a number which at once makes an error of more than 50 per cent in all Mr. JOHNSTON'S comparative statements. (Vide. Appendix A.)
5. Again, it may be true that there are 113 Europeans, and 328 Indians in the Police of Hongkong, and only 39 European Police at Shanghai, if the Consular staff, and that of the Supreme Court be omitted. It is not, however, true, as assumed by Mr. JOHNSTON (par. 7), that the Chinese portion of the force is useful only against Natives, which assertion is evidently intended to lead the reader to infer that the Foreign Police are useful only against Foreigners. There is no such distinction. The European and Native Force act indiscriminately, whether in the city, or whether in the outlying villages and harbor, which latter duties alone engage 200 of the force.
*
6. The proportion, therefore, of Hongkong Police to the total population-121,000-which it supervises is 1 to 191, and the proportion of Foreign Police to Foreign residents is nearly 1 to 70.
7. Misstatements of the materiel and working of the Police force are, however, of little conse- quence compared with the unnoticed fact that in Shanghai there is only a small level and compact space, and a native population thereon to be watched, whose comparatively peaceful and docile character enables them to be governed with peculiar facility, especially as the Chinese authorities lend material assistance on the spot. In Hongkong, there is no such help. The resident population is far larger than that under supervision of the Anglo-American Council at Shanghai, whilst it is, moreover, continually recruited with professional criminals from the most restless and turbulent Provinces of the Chinese Empire, so that Hongkong may be said to be in a constant state of siere from without