REPORT.
450
LIST OF CHARGES
PREFERRED BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE REGISTRAR GENERAL.
1. With being unfit to be a Justice of the Peace.
2.—With having a scandalous connection with a Brothel licensed by himself, namely, Brothel No. 48. 13. With having passed a portion of his life among Chinese outlaws and Pirates.
4. With an alliance with some of the worst Chinese in this Colony through his wife-a Chinese girl from
a Brothel.
5.-With being a speculator in Brothels and Brothel Licenses.
6. With being long and intimately connected with Ma-chow Wong; and that that connection is still subsisting; and that the principal link in that connection is the bond of affinity by adoption accord- ing to Chinese Law.
7.—With being in the habit, on Ma-chow Wong's unsupported information, of arresting and discharging
persons, and of confiscating or restoring property.
S.-That the Chinese dare not now complain of the connivances and procurements of Mr Caldwell, the
patron of the outlaw Ma-chow Wong.
9.-With having procured bail for Ma-chow Wong: such bail being a servant of his own (Mr Caldwell's),
who had been but a month before in prison for debt. 10.—With audaciously denying that the books and papers of the Pirate's Hong contain
any
evidence of Ma-chow Wong's guilt, with having deceived the Executive Council in the enquiry had relative to Ma-chow Wong, and with being convicted of falsehood by Mr May. 11-With being partner with Ma-chow Wong in a lorcha, and that there were entries in Ma-chow Wong's books, and made by him, of monies paid to Mr Caldwell on account or out of the produce of plunder made at sea.
12. With harbouring Ma-chow Wong's wife after his conviction.
13. With inducing the Attorney General at the beginning of 1857, to order the release of a great number of men who Mr May knows to have been pirates, and who Mr Caldwell ought to have known at the time were pirates.
14. With buying land in the Colony since December last, when he became Licenser of Brothels.
15. With having once owned three unlicensed Hongkong Brothels at a time.
16. With having a Chinese Sister-in-law by blood or usage, who in 1856-57 was keeping Brothels. 17. With receiving the monthly rack rentals of Houses, and in particular of a Brothel standing on 11 Crown
Lots, down to the present month of May.
X 18. With having informed Mr May, that he, Mr Caldwell, was a member of a Secret Society.
19. With having informed Mr May, that although he would not himself take bribes, he would not object
to his wife doing so.
COUNCIL CHAMBER, SATURDay, 17th July, 1858.
SIR,-We, the Members of a Commission appointed by Your Excellency, on the 20th day
of May, 1858, to inquire into and report upon certain charges brought against Mr Caldwell, the Registrar General, having inquired into the same do now report,—
That we commenced our public proceedings on the 27th of May last, and have had Twenty-five Sittings, extending over a period of Seven Weeks; that we have examined up- wards of Fifty Witnesses, and a vast mass of Documents, and have extended our inquiries into a number of matters, some of which, irrelevant as they may now appear, were so woven into and combined with the immediate subject of inquiry, that it was not considered safe to leave them unexamined. We allowed ourselves great latitude as to the kind of evidence we admitted, and were obliged to do so particularly in the matter of hearsay evidence, though not to the extent which the Attorney General (who sent in a protest on the subject) con- sidered justifiable or even necessary. We may observe here, that the same gentleman also forwarded a protest against the manner of taking Chinese evidence, as being in his opinion palpably favourable to Mr Caldwell. But we now repeat, what the Chairman stated at the time of the reception of the protest, that we consider the Attorney General's complaint totally unfounded.'
We have experienced great difficulty in our labours: First, from the nature, arrange- ment, and wording of the charges-some of which it appeared unnecessary, as it certainly was most distasteful to us to inquire into; Secondly, from the reluctance of witnesses to give evidence; and Thirdly, and especially from the refusal of the Attorney General to act as accuser, or to recognize the charges as his charges. Under these circumstances, we consider- ed it advisable to engage the services of Mr Day to act as examiner, parties interested being informed that he would receive at his Chambers any information which it was intended to bring before the Commission.
On the subject of our inquiry we report :
That charge 2, has been satisfactorily met and explained by Mr Caldwell, though there existed strong prima facie grounds for bringing it.
That charge 4 is not proved, but that there were grounds for bringing it.
That no proof whatever has been brought forward in support of charge 5.
That charge 14 is not proved as regards Mr Caldwell himself, though it appears that Mrs Caldwell has had transactions in land and houses for her sister since December last. when
Caldwellwell became Licenser of Brothels, but that there is no evidence that Mr
had any knowledgeuch transactions.
That change 15 has not been proved.
That no proof has been given in support of charge 16, but that there were grounds for bringing it.
That there is no proof whatever of charge 17, and that there were no sufficient grounds for bringing it,