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THE FLEET AND THE JUBILEE CELEBRATION.
(12th May).
[Since the above was written it has been officially announced that the following vessels will be present at Hongkong for the Diamond Jubilee:-ndaunted, Humber, Rattler, and Phenix].
PERSONS.
[May 20, 1897. House of Commons on the second reading of the Law of Evidence Bill the argument was
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in favour of the measure. Several mem- bers opposed it, but their speeches as re- ported in the Times possess little or no substance. The only argument of any weight they advanced was that a nervous person taken out of the dock and placed in the, witness box might by reason of his nervousness not be able to give his evidence in a clear and connected manner and in- ferences to his disadvantage might be drawn' from his confusion. We do not ourselves think that an innocent person would ever be prejudiced in that way, but, even granting the possibility, the advantages and disadvan tages on each side have to be weighed ยท against each other; and the balance is decidedly in favour of the alteration of the existing law. Sir E. CLARKE made the strongest speech in favour of the Bill and gave instances from his own experience showing the absurdity and the danger of the existing law. One case he mentioned was that of a clergyman who was charged with committing a criminal offence in respect of some children. The only evidence that could have been called besides himself really was his wife, and she could not be called; he was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment for ench offence, the terms to be consecutive-that was to say, four years' imprisonment. He went to prison in November. The man from prison
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND need cause dismay or even entail any serious risk. Finally, we trust that the Colonial Government will take the matter up in order that there may not be the finsco For with a, It is extremely probable, we hear, that at present looming before us. during the celebration here of Her Majesty's large number of the men of the Hongkong Diamond Jubilee the Queen's Navy will be Regiment absent, and the expected re- meagrely represented. Indeed, we have inforcement of Artillery still to come, the reason to believe that, according to present review promises to be an indifferent spectacle, arrangements, only one vessel of the status If these things are worth doing at all, let of a first class cruiser will be in port, and us do them well. The eyes, of the Chinese that one unable, for good reasons, to make nation are upon us; there will be tens of any special show on the occasion. It is, thousands of visitors from the mainland to however, some little time before the com- witness the pageant, and its details will be memoration will take place, and it is talked of far and wide. To make the sincerely to be hoped for every reason that spectacle effective we must depend largely the arm which has fitly been termed Eng-on the Navy, and we yet hope that we shall land's first line of defence will be represented not be disappointed. The displays at Ports- as it should be. Needless to say, if the mouth on less memorable occasions than this comfort of the Navy is to be consulted have ere now aroused the wonder and before the bonour of the gracious sovereign admiration of great monarchs, and Her it serves, the vessels will remain North in Majesty's Fleet in China and Japan if cooler climes. But Britannia's seamen are, gathered in this harbour would assuredly we feel confident, worthy successors of the furnish a sight well worth beholding, while men who did their duty so nobly under the battalions of seamen and marines if NELSON, BLAKE, COLLINGWOOD, and others, paraded at Wong-nei-cheong would render and they would not for one moment set per- the review a really imposing display. sonal comfort in the scale with the duty of gathering in British waters on this great day in the annals of the illustrious lady who for sixty years has ruled over the wide Empire of which this little colony is the Ultima Thule in Asia. Here, in this harbour, in the first colony acquired. during Queen VICTORIA's reign, the fine THE EXAMINATION OF ACCUSED | put before the Home Secretary reasons for vessels of the Squadron, should gather from all sides, except those on duty in the Straits Settlements, which of course will remain In an interesting letter which appeared in at Singapore. There should, on this our columns a few days ago the Hon. W. memorable day, be such a fleet anchored MEIGH GOODMAN said he would be glad to as would do credit alike to sovereign, see the statutory power possessed by Judges nation, and colony; to take the lead in the and Magistrates in this colony of examining thunderous salute that will proclaim her an accused person used more frequently reign the longest and most glorious in than at present. Practically the Acts con- British annals; to take part in the review ferring this power are a dead letter. The of the Naval and Military forces which reason is, perhaps, not far to seek. It is is to impress the imagination and fire the the Judge's duty to keep an open mind in minds of Her Majesty's lieges of every the trial of case, but this he might find race and colour. There is good reason to difficult to do if he entered upon an inde- believe that the various foreign squadrons pendent examination of a prisoner, in which in these waters will be well represented he would be liable to fall into the position here during the Diamond Jubilee, and of counsel for the prosecution or the defence, Japan purposes sending a special squadron as the case might be. In the former case to be present. It would be strange indeed the jury might be inclined to think that the for these friendly visitors to find the white prisoner was being unfairly dealt with ensign conspicuous by its almost complete and acquit him on that ground, even absence from the harbour! On the occasion though the evidence in itself were strong of the German EMPEROR's last birthday enough to convict. Whatever the reason, there was an unusually large gathering certain it is that Judges very seldom exer- of men-of-war of all natious in port, and the cise the power conferred upon them, and on salvoes then fired were something memorable. the rare occasions that they have done so Ought the Chinese on a special occasion like their questions have been directed simply the forthcoming Jubilee commemoration to ot clearing up some point of detail arising witness anything less imposing afloat than was on the evidence already given and not to then displayed? We trow not, and we do not the obtaining of a full and complete state- believe that such is the desire of the Britishment from the prisoner. Even if the power Government. If the Vice-Admiral in Command of the Fleet has any doubt as to the wishes of the Admiralty he might telegraph for instructions. There is ample time to alter present arrangements and rendezvous the main portion of the Squadron here for the celebration. No one will for a moment doubt Sir ALEXANDER BULLER's patriotic sentiments, but we must be excused for deprecating his adherence to naval custom and precedent in the movements of the ships at a time when all custom and all precedent should be brushed aside in order to magnify the event and do honour to the QUEEN. The health of the Squadron is of course of immense importance, but there are times in its history when even that geases to be a paramount consideration, and there is noth- ing so specially pestilential in the air of Hongkong that a three days' sojourn here
his release. The Home Secretary declined to make any recommendation until the girls had been indicted for perjury, In the fol lowing April or May the girls were indicted for perjury. The jury found them guilty of perjury. Why? Because at that trial the man and his wife were the witnesses, and the girls who had given evidence at the previous trial could not be examined. The girls were. convicted of perjury; the man was released from prison. He brought an action against his solicitor for want of care or judgment in defending him, but the question of his guilt or innocence was never tried in a case in which all persons could be heard. So it came about that the man was convicted of a shameful offence because his mouth and that of his wife were closed; the children were convicted because they could not be heard when a charge of perjury was brought against them; and if it was possible, said Sir EDWARD, under any system of law for so scandalous a thing as that to have taken place, surely it was time that some remedy should be applied. Other cases he men- tioned were those in which persons who had been convicted of fraud subsequently proved their innocence when they appeared as witnesses in civil actions arising out of the same circumstances as those in connection with which they had been criminally con- victed. Such cases as these show the im portance to an innocent person accused of crime of being able to go into the witness- box and give evidence on his own behalf. As to guilty persons, Sir F. LockwOOD put the sentence.
were more extensively used it would be but a poor substitute for the regular examination of the accused person as a witness by his own counsel and his cross-examination by the counsel for the Crown, as proposed by
matter neatly in a single the Law of Evidence Bill now before the
He was sure, he said, there House of Commons. The second reading of
was no hon. and learned member who that Bill was carried by 210 votes to 41, a majority of 169, so that there is little doubt had been in the habit of defending prisoners this useful measure will at last be passed. who did not remember how often he had. | In that case no time ought to be lost in appealed to juries hs to the hardship "to bringing into force a similar amendment of "this poor man who stands at the bar with "his mouth closed" and all the time thanking the law in this colony, for, as Mr. GOODMAN says, it would facilitate the ascertainment of his stars that he could not put him in the the truth, whether of guilt or innocence, and box. To the innocent the proposed amend- with Asiatic witnesses the difficulties in satis-ent of the law will be an advantage; to the factorily proving a case are often very great. The necessity for an amendment of the law is even greater here than in England.
In the debate which took place in the
guilty it will be a disadvantage, but surely no one would contend that a state of the law which favours guilt should be main- tained. :-