Hong Kong. Jurisdiction of Civil Court.
On the first letter nothing occurs to me beyond the remark that it would seem impossible to enforce the penalties which this Ordinance purports to enact against persons contravening the Order in Council, at any British settlement on "foreign soil" except Hongkong.
On the second his Lordship would observe that if the time were ripe for constituting Hong Kong as a Colonial dependency of the Crown, with a permanent Government, it would appear to be desirable to leave to the local Legislature which might be established the power of creating Courts of Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction. But as that period has not yet arrived his Lordship thinks that it would be desirable to confer on the Court which is now to be constituted a criminal as well as a Civil Jurisdiction for the punishment of crimes committed in Hongkong, which being henceforward British population would probably not be within the meaning of the Statute of 9th Will 3rd and that it would likewise be desirable that the Orders now to be promulgated for the establishment of this Court should be expressly declared to be temporary & provisional until HMS... can take order for the permanent...