[78]
[79]
"1.—I have read with much concern the correspondence connected with the proceedings of public functionaries in reference to the brothel Ordinance.
"The Registrar General did in my judgment give evidence in Atai's case tending to implicate Mr. May in direct complicity with the Brothel in question, which evidence is Justice requires that Mr. Caldwell contradicted and that charge certainly not established,
should revise his statements as to the mode of escape of the prostitutes whom he supposed had been assisted by a party under Mr. May's protection. On being convinced of his error I think Mr. Caldwell should convey to Mr. May the expression of his regret with the ack- nowledgment of that error-and I recommend greater caution in any statements connected with the execution of his responsible duties."
The REGISTrar General."
"No. 15."
I have, &c.
LC
"W. T. BRIDGES,” Acting Colonial Secretary."
oath administered to me before I was called upon to give evidence. I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
"D. R. CALDWELL," "Registrar General & Protector of Chinese."
Honorable W. T. Bridges, Esq., D.C.L." "Acting Colonial Secretary,
&c.,
&c.,
ge."
"I am respectfully of opinion that the Registrar General's explanation is completely satisfactory, and I venture to hope that is Excellency the Governor will authorise me to state so officially.-W. T. B.""31/3/58."
Memo: to Mr. Bridges.
"State to Mr. Caldwell that having caused further information to be taken and con- vinced myself that the statement was made by him as to the escape of the women with- out any mala files on his part, his explanation is deemed satisfactory.“ J. B.”—“ 3/4/58."
REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE, VICTORIA,
HONGKONG, 31st March, 1858."
SIR,I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd instant, communicating to me the minute made by His Excellency the Governor regarding my conduct connected with the case of a woman named Ahtai, convicted of keeping a Brothel, and as it would appear from the wording of the minute that I have inade a statement which is not true, and that His Ex- cellency calls upon me in justice to Mr. May to express my regret and to ac- knowledge the error, I feel it my duty respectfully to represent to His Excel- lency, that at the time I made the discovery of a window being on the side of a house belonging to Mr. May, and close to a roof leading from Ahtai's house, and the fact that Ahtai's women were in the house when I first knocked, and not finding them when I gained admission, and that if they left the house at all, they must have gone through that window; there being apparently no other means of escape or concealment, I considered I was right in the conclusion I then came to, and which the Constable who was with me at the time agreed to, viz., that the women had escaped through that window; that they actually did so I could not say, but I only stated what was my impression at the time; as to the practica- bility of any women or even a child making their escape from the roof to the window, I am now the more positive, as I have since inspected the place in com- pany with Mr. Jarman, who, I believe, has stated that it is quite impossible for any woman to do so, and to which statement he still adheres, although, strange to say, he would not do so at the time he examined the place with me, but requested that I would give him the night to consider over the matter! and, as I expected, the next morning he informed me he could not alter his former statement. The distance from the window to the edge of the roof is just about 2 feet, the lower part of the former being on a level with the latter, the window being about 3 feet high, the Venetians, when opened, would project on each side of the window about a foot, thus affording a very convenient support to a person stepping across, and I must consequently adhere to my former statement that the window afforded a most ready means of escape for even a child; I must how- ever acknowledge that on my last examination of the premises the window in question I found open and observed that there are wooden bars to it; if these bars, being fixtures, were in the window on the night in question of course it would have been impossible for any person to have gone through, but at the time it was shut and knowing that the house belonged to Mr. May I did not attempt to open it; had I not known this, I should certainly have endeavoured to have gone through the window in pursuit of the women.
"I beg further to state that I had no wish to connect Mr. May in any way with the case; on the contrary, I purposely avoided it by describing his house as a private house, but the evidence which I afterwards gave regarding him and his house was forced from me by questions from yourself through the Chief Ma- gistrate, to which I was bound to reply. Had I voluntarily brought Mr. May's name unecessarily into the matter I might reasonably be expected to apologise for having done so, but I beg respectfully to observe that I was only doing my duty in replying to questions put to me by my superiors and acting up to the
"No. 181."
"COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE, VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 3rd April, 1858."
“SIR,—I have submitted to Ilis Excellency the Governor your letter No. 3, and I am directed to inform you that His Excellency having caused further in- formation to be taken in the circumstances connected with the case of Ahtai's house, is convinced that the statement made by you as to the escape of the women was made in good faith on your part.
"His Excellency is therefore of opinion that your explanation is satisfac- tory.I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
The REGISTRAR GENERAL."
CC
"W. T. BRIDGES," Acting Colonial Secretary."
Mr. Caldwell having no further evidence to produce in support of Charge 2, Mr. May stated in reply that he had always been opposed to the indiscriminate employ- ment of the Police in visiting and regulating brothels, believing such not to have been the intention of the Legislative Council when passing the Ordinance. He thought such a course if allowed would have opened a floodgate for the inunda- tion of the Police Department with corruption and extortion, greater even than that lately discovered in the case of the gambling houses. But he stated that the Police always interfered whenever ordered to do so by the Superintendent, or an Inspector, or by the Registrar General. There was a standing order that the Police were to give their services to the Registrar General whenever he re- quired them, and he asserted that he had always given the most zealous assistance in carrying out the Ordinance as far as he was empowered to do so; and that he had only refrained from interfering himself, or allowing the Police to interfere, in a manner which would in his opinion have been not only injudicious, but illegal. Charge 3 was then proceeded with :--
"With having by misrepresentations induced the Acting Chief Magistrate, who had sentenced a prisoner charged with receiving Goods in pawn without a licence, to reverse his judgment and discharge the prisoner, there being conclusive evidence of his guilt."
Mr. Caldwell in support of this Charge wished the following depositions in a case before
the Acting Chief Magistrate in the year 1859 to be placed on the Minutes:--
385
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