1580
No. 184.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 31ST JULY, 1880.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
DEPORTATION OF CHINESE CRIMINALS FROM HONGKONG TO AUSTRALIA.
The following documents are published for general information.
By Command,
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
531
The Acts : Colonial Secretary to the Surveyor General.
- Copy.
N:978.
16947
Colonial Secretary's Office
REGO
1. NOV 80
Hongkong, 4th August, 1880.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 30th July, 1880.
TELEGRAM FROM THE PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, HONGKONG.
SYDNEY, 17th June, 1880.
It is reported here that the Hongkong Government is promoting some scheme for the deportation of Chinese convicted of criminal offences to Australia. Kindly inform me what foundation there may be for this report.
No. 689.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 19th June, 1880.
SIR,- I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt, on the 17th instant, of your telegram stating that it was reported in Sydney that the Hongkong Government was promoting some scheme for the deportation of Chinese, convicted of criminal offences, to Australia, and enquiring if there was any foundation for the report.
2. In reply, I informed you by telegraph that no such deportation is now allowed from Hongkong, as Governor HENNESSY had stopped it three years ago, and I added that I would write by mail.
3. I now enclose for your information some extracts of despatches on this subject from His Excellency to the Secretary of State, together with a report of some observations made by the Governor in November, 1879, in the Legislative Council, on Chinese Emigration from Hongkong to Australia.
4. You will observe from the enclosed papers that Sir John Pope HENNESSY is not disposed to encourage Chinese Emigration to Australia, and that he has long since put a stop to the deportation of Chinese criminals to your part of the world.
5. You will also see that, as the Governor points out, this system had been carried on without the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government, and that His Excellency is of opinion that but a small proportion of the Chinese criminals liberated in Hongkong from 1866 to 1877 on conditional pardons were actually put on board the Australian steamers by the Police.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
Sir HENRY PARKES, K.C.M.G.,
Premier and Colonial Secretary,
SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES.
SIR,
EXTRACTS FROM DESPATCHES OF GOVERNOR SIR J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, BT., M.P.
GOVERNMENT House, HONGKONG, 29th April, 1879.
In considering the policy of getting rid of old offenders by deporting them to other parts of the world, I have been unable to approve of a system which existed in Hongkong before my arrival. I refer to that which is described by the Police Officers in their evidence at the recent Commission. At page 37 of the evidence, the Captain Superintendent of Police mentions the fact that some of the deported men go to Australia: and at page 77, Mr. GRIMES, the Inspector who had charge of the harbour, said he saw as many as fifty deported men, some being old offenders, shipped off in Emigrant Ships in 1876 to Queensland.
On the 9th instant, the Governor read the letter dated Saturday, the 7th instant, in which you requested His Excellency to forward by the mail of Monday a letter addressed to the Surveyor-General.
"I have, &c.,
"J. POPE HENNESSY."