179
Persal Laws Amendment Ordinance 1881.
2.
As the proposed Government measure involved the repeal or amendment of eleven Ordinances and dealt with a subject that had caused some little controversy in the Colony, I circulated amongst the members of Council copies of extracts of various despatches and other papers relating to remission of sentences, branding, and flogging. I introduced the Bill with a few explanatory remarks so as to better elicit on the second reading a full expression of opinion.
3.
Having allowed ten days to elapse after the First reading, I moved the Second reading on the 13th instant, when the Bill was read a second time unanimously. The only members who took part in the debate, the Acting Chief Justice and Mr. Bulkeley Johnson (of Messrs Jardine, Matheson & Co.), supported the Bill on the ground that the satisfactory state of crime in the Colony justified it.
4.
Mr. Snowden (the late Chief Justice) said: - "There is no doubt the state of crime is much better than it was when I came to the Colony in 1874. Lately, I think, crime has much decreased, especially crimes of violence.