230
No. 21.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 2ND JUNE, 1866.
THE MAGISTRACY, 17th May, 1866. St-It is with much regret that we feel ourselves compelled, after duo consideration, to call your special attention to the matter contained in certain passages of the Report of the Commissioners recently appointed by His Excellency the Governor to inquire into the existence of an Epidemic in the Colony stated to be Yellow Fever, which appeared in the Government Gazette of Saturday, the 12th instant.
We refer to the statements reported to have been tonde by Mr. Ellis, Inspector of Nuisances.
That Mr. Ellis had, while under examination thought proper to call in question the discretion which the Magistrates had exercised in the issuing of Summonses, and in the amount of penalties which were inflicted on conviction, we were already aware. But, considering that such allegations were among the class of privileged communications, and not upon oath, it was deemed advisable by us to take no official notice of them.
The position of affairs, however, is materially altered when the allegations are embodied in an Official Document, and the case assumes a still graver aspect when that Document is rude a public one.
Holding these views, we think that unless some notice is taken by us the Report will continue a standing charge, which if unnoticed would appear to be unanswerable, of the inefficiency of the Magistrates for the time being in dealing with the class of offences referred to,--the suppression of which affects, more or less, the whole Community.
We cannot conceal our surprise that the Members who formed the Commission, one of them, too, being an Officer of the Civil Government, should have gone so far as to accept unquestioned Mr. Ellis' statement contained in the last sentence of the second paragraph of his evidence.
Ordinary courtesy, we should think, would have dictated an application to this Court for the verification or otherwise of a charge made against the Magistrates by an Inspector of Police.
Mr. Ellis' evidence, however, unconfirmed and uncorroborated is published, and is virtually accepted by the Commissioners as containing the prime reason for the dirty state of certain portions of the City.
It is not for us to comment on the propriety of the Commissioners in allowing an Inspector of Police to censure the Magistrates as is done in this case, but we cannot refrain from expressing our opinion that if Inspectors of Police are to be permitted to make such charges against the Magistrates, and no steps be taken to require them to prove their statements, not only will our Court be brought into contempt, hut discipline will be at an end, and the anomaly will arise of the discretion of the Magistrates being guaged by the opinions of the Inspectors of Pulice.
We shall, however, avail ourselves of this opportunity to give an unqualified denial to the statement made by Mr. Ellis that there is a difficulty in obtaining Summonses. From the Return enclosed it will be seen that, since the 1st of January, 1866, 1,073 Summonses have been issued at the complaint of Mr. Ellis, and that fines to the aniount of about $500 have been imposed by the Magistrates; how in the teeth of this Mr. Ellis has the hardihood to state that he is "unable to do his duty," we confess we are at a loss to conceive.
Had the Report been intended for the Executive Government alone we could not, unasked, have called attention to it; but when it becomes an Official and public Document which will go home to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, besides being published in the local papers, we feel ourselves bound to protest against the charges made against us, and beg that the proper stops may be taken to lay the facts in a true light before the Home Authorities.
It only remains for us to request that you, Sir, will be good enough to lay this letter before the Governor. His Excellency will at once perceive the unpleasant situation in which we are placed in consequence of the publicity given to the charges made against us by Mr. Ellis; particularly, as by the publication of his evidence in the Gazette these charges have apparently received the sanction of the Government.
We feel that these accusations are mumerited; we have, to the best of our ability, endeavoured to discharge our duties, and we very respectfully claim from Ilis Excellency the means of publicly refuting charges which are as serious as they are unwarranted. We have, &c.,
The Honorable W. T. MERCER,
$0. &c., gc.
(Signed)
"
JOHN C. WHYTE. CECIL C. SMITH.
Statement of Parties Summoned to the Police Magistrates Court, charged with permitting Dirt, and offensive matter to remain exposed in the immediate vicinity, &c., of their dwellings.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 2nd JUNE, 1866.
231
214
His Excellency would suggest that the experience thus gained might be a valuable guide to the Magistrates, and he is convinced that timely severity would prove the best policy for preventing the hours of business in the Court being occupied by Nuisance cases. The Chinese are shrewd enough to perceive when it is really their personal interest to save their money and their liberty by obeying the Law in the first instance.
His Excellency thinks moreover it is a great mistake of a Magistrate to decline putting the existing Law in force, because he thinks, whether rightly or wrongly, that its provisions are either harsh or impolitic. He is not responsible for those provisions, and he is sworn to administer them.
He has ready access to the Executive and can at all times suggest alterations, where his experience leads him to see the way to improvement. Meantine, however, if he has no doubt of the facts submitted, His Excellency thinks he ought not to discharge those guilty of infringing the Law.
It is a policy, which defeats its own object, and His Excellency thinks it also wrong in principle.
In these questions of Nuisances the Public have a beary interest at stake in this climate. His Excellency hopes soon to improve the Law, but certainly it will not be in the direction of rendering it less severe.--I have, &c.,
J. C. WHYTE, and CECIL C. SMITH, Esquires,
No. 23.
SC., &c., gre.
(Signed)
W. T. MERCER,
Colonial Secretary.
MAGISTRACY, HONGKONG, 25th May, 1866.
SIR,-We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 306 of the 19th instant, in which you inform us that the publication of the evidence appended to the Report of the Commissioners was the result of an oversight. We regret however to find that there is nothing in your communication from which we can infer that it is the intention of His Excellency the Governor to comply with the request contained in our letter of the 17th instant, and give publicity to our denial of the truth of the statements made by Inspector Ellis. We therefore feel constrained to address you again on this subject, and
eg, most respectfully, to solicit from His Excellency further consideration of our request. In our letter to you of the 17th instant, we not merely gave a positive denial to the charges made against us, but forwarded a Return with which His Excellency has been pleased to express his satisfaction-which shewed that the allegations of Mr. Ellis were unfounded. Under these circumstances we ventured to hope that the Governor would, in justice to us, have published our letter, and we now beg to lay before him briefly the reasons which induce us again to urge our former request. The charges are of a serious character, and from the mode of their publication have apparently received the sanction of the Government; if unnoticed they jannot but be supposed to be true, and will naturally have the result of seriously impairing the consideration due to the Office we hold in the Colony; while we are unable to take any steps publicly to justify ourselves. Moreover, our prospects are hable to be injurionsly affected; we cannot reasonably hope for promotion in the service, if charges of the nature made against us by Inspector Ellis are forwarded to the Home Authorities, and our denial of them be not also transmitted. On these grounds we venture to appeal to the Governor, trusting that he will not refuse us the means of vindicating our character. It will always be a source of gratification to us to merit the approval of His Excellency, and any suggestions made by him will ever be received by us with the deference due to them: in dealing however with the cases which are brought before as we deem it our duty to endeavour conscientiously to exercise the discretion with which we are invested.
It is not our intention to make any imputations against Mr. Ellis; but you, Sir, know sufficient of his character and antecedents, to enter into our feelings on finding that so much weight is attached by the Governor to unsupported charges made against us by him; and the statements of his experience put forward as a valuable guide to the Magistrates. We have, &c.,
JOHN C. WHYTE, Į Police Magistrates.
The Honorable W. T. MERCEN,
No. 317.
Colonial Secretary.
(Signed)
CECIL C. SMITH,
}
No. 306.
NUMBER OF PERSONS.
MONTH,'
January
February
Summoned. Appeared. Discharged.
Fined.
144
140
16
124
77
72
11
61
March. April. May
133
131
72
50
416
389
80
309
303
293
39
254
Total.
1,073
1,025
218
807
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE, HONGKONG, 26th May, 1866.
GENTLEMEN,I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of yesterday in reply to mine, No. 306 of the 10th instant, and to state that His Excellency the Governor will publish the Correspondence that has resulted from the publication of the anitary Commission Report and Evidence,
At the same time I am directed to point out that my letter of the 10th gave no intimation of SIR RICHARD MACDONNELL'S atisfaction at the Returns forwarded by you, except as evidencing recently an increased disposition to apply the Law; nor
at all obvious that those Returns completely refute Mr. Ellis' views.-I have, &c.,
JC. WHYTE, and CECIL C. SMITH, Esquires,
(Signed)
W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary.
No. 85.
$e., $c., Se.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE, Hongkong, 19th May, 1880.
GENTLEMEN,In reply to your letter No. 21 of 17th instant, I am directed to explain that His Excellency the Governor, when directing the publication of the report of the Commission, had not intended to publish the evidence appended thereto, and its publication was the result of an oversight during the press of business at the closing of last Mail.
His Excellency is glad to perceive from the return which you have sent that the proportion of cases in which thought proper to apply the existing law has lately increased.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
At the request of His Excellency Vice-Admiral KING, C.B., Naval Commander-in-Chief, the allowing Hydrographic Notice is published for the information of Mariners, and others whom it may oncern. you have
By Order,
His Excellency sent for Mr. Ellis that he might explain his statements made to the Commission, and he has repeated that Mr. Whyte has more than once objected to his bringing before the Bench so many poor persons, and that he was thereby discouraged from doing his duty.
He has also explained that although the number of fines inflicted appears large, the amounts in almost all instances are extremely small.
He states that in consequence of recent increased severity on the part of the Magistrates, the lower classes of Chinese are beginning to take more pains in keeping their premises clean.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 29th May, 1866.
W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary,