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to move a stop without: the acceptance of Attorneys, and these exactions certainly appear to be very heavy. On this subject, however, I must refer Your Lordships to my Despatch already quoted, remarking that at Hongkong there are also, as there are no Barristers, only two Attorneys, who are permitted to practise as Advocates. The proceedings of these gentlemen are in that all cases where the amount in dispute did not exceed in value $500 might be disposed of without their assistance; and that in cases where parties saw fit to require their aid, the precise amount of fees that they could legally demand, should be defined and generally known in consequence not subject to that wholesome supervision and control that they would be at home, where they become open to the inspection of an enlightened Bar.
Having had very considerable experience in judicial matters in the Straits of Malacca, I knew that not one half of the cases that came before the Courts there were conducted by Attorneys, and it therefore appeared to me that at all events it would be desirable so to alter the practice here, and be made simple.
From a Return furnished by the Supreme Court, I found that during the six months ending the 31st December last, 48 actions had been commenced, of which 19 (being about 40 per cent) were for amounts under $500; and that 67 per cent of cases where the amount in dispute did not exceed $100 had been disposed of. These latter are decided before the Judge without a Jury, and it appeared to me that if the Summary Jurisdiction was extended to $500, and the actions tried in the same manner,