[ xcv]
to do with this case than anybody else in the Colony, and they might as well have sent the defendant to the Postmaster-General, the Surveyor-General, or to any other official here. It was not a matter pertain- ing to the functions of the Registrar-General at all. The Police are here-a properly constituted body for dealing with crime-and it is to them that they should have banded over this man.
•
His Worship then, addressing LI YIK CHI, through the interpreter, said I have been saying that this action of the Pó Léung Kok in detaining this man and sending him to the Registrar-General is quite irregular. It is one of the first principles of justice that a man accused of a crime shall be brought speedily to trial. Not merely is this the practice of English law but it is a principle affecting the liberty of the subject everywhere, and your detective when he suspected the prisoner of having brought the complainant into the Colony for an improper purpose, should have at once handed him over to the Police and not taken him to the Tung Wa Hospital, whence he was afterwards sent to the Registrar-General. He should not have been brought before the Registrar-General at all, but immediately handed over to the Police. The delay which has been occasioned, and the proceedings which have taken place without the knowledge of the public, have greatly increased the difficulty of getting justice done. How can I decide whether the prisoner has had fair play? He may have had statements extracted from him, which would tell against him, which might not have been legally obtained. With regard to the evidence of the whole case I am afraid that a great deal of it is untrue. I think the real truth is contained in the simple statement sent to the Registrar-General, and that all the evidence we have had since of what has gone on at the Pó Léung Kuk has been given more or less with an idea there must have been something irregular in the proceedings there, and therefore they are not entitled to full credit, I hope you will bear in mind also that in a Colony like this, with a large Chinese population, it is very important that they should know what is the constitutional method of obtaining justice, and that anything which causes them to think that by irregular proceedings of this kind they are more likely to obtain the end in view is quite wrong. In what I have said I have no desire to make any reflection on your institution. I am merely dealing with this particular case and I am dealing with it from the prisoner's point of view. He is not defended and
is therefore entitled to all that can be said in his favour and to the discrepancies in the complainant's story. The result has been that, whereas I think that if the matter had been brought forward in the ordinary and simple way in which it ought to have been and the complainant left to tell his story as it actually occurred, a conviction would certainly have been obtained; as it is I think the prisoner has not been proved guilty and he is discharged.
Appendix 45.
CASE OF LI FUNG.
Translation of extract from Pó Léung Kuk records.
Saturday, 5th March, or 7th day Second Moon.
Brought from 1st floor No. 9, Aberdeen Street, by Inspector LEE and district watch- man, PANG SHING.
LI FUNG states-I am 18 years old. I am a native of Canton. I was married to a man named P'UN who is now dead. At the end of last year, I came to Hongkong with my elder brother An FUK and lodged in a relative's house whose name was CHAN SZ. I then desired to sell myself to be a prostitute. I gave my price as $500. A man had already been introduced by a go-between to see me and had offered $380 for me. CHAN SZ acted for me in arranging the price. On the price being settled, the money was to be paid to CHAN Sz.
On being examined again on the 20th day of the second moon (18th March) Li Fung continued-Several years ago, my mother sold me and sent me to Swatow where I lived as a prostitute in a brothel. In the 9th moon of last year (October 1891), I received a new visitor named LIU TSAI-TIN and we had intercourse with each other for several nights, in consequence of which I became pregnant. Since that time I felt very weak and became sick. In the 12th moon of last year (January 1892), I came by steamer to Hongkong and by inquiry I found LIU TSAI-TIN. He consented to take me to his own house and there obtained medical attendance for me. When I had almost recovered, I was arrested