To obviate any further mistake, Section 7 has been drawn in its present form.
Section 5. It was thought advisable on several grounds to extend the powers of Magistrates. The difficulty which is experienced in obtaining Chinese evidence before the Supreme Court; and the loss of time, sometimes several days, which the witnesses incur without remuneration, while waiting about the Supreme Court involves a pecuniary loss which presses hardly upon the poorer classes.
The commerce of the Port is now mainly carried on by vessels which remain a few days and then continue their voyage. To prevent failures of justice from absence of prosecutors or witnesses, it is necessary to provide means for dealing promptly with offences of minor importance.
It was also considered that larger powers might easily be entrusted to Magistrates in this Colony, than would be possible in larger Colonies; they discharge their duties under the immediate eye of the Executive and of the Judges, and any serious want of discretion could not fail to be noticed at once, and instructions could be given to prevent the occurrence of any mistake, while in any doubtful case, the ...