The Daily Press
HONGKONG, AUGUST 4TH, 1871.
The liberal principles which have of late years obtained in India, where a certain share in the Government of the country has been rightly given to the natives, have latterly received an extension in a direction where this might be least expected. It will be seen from the Straits papers, that Mr. POPE HENNESSY, the Governor of Labuan, has adopted the plan of giving certain posts under Government to the Chinese, a step of the utmost interest to those who are concerned in the question of governing the Chinese residents in our Colonies. It seems that on his arrival in Labuan he found that the finances were in a very disordered state, and that there was hardly any possibility of raising the revenue sufficiently to carry on the necessary Government of the place. On looking around him to discover from what sources he could obtain advice, he hit upon the idea of asking the assistance of the native population, who, he says, are the most industrious and reliable portion of the population of the Colony. The result of doing this was that he found out that by a simple alteration in the mode in which the Opium Farm was collected, he would be able to increase the Revenue of the Colony very considerably; and, by this and similar means, he succeeded in meeting the financial wants of the Settlement. His reforms, however, did not stop here. Perceiving that the Chinese formed a very important element in the Colony, and that the few European merchants therein little understood or cared for their interests, he adopted the plan of enlisting their services in public matters, and among others, placing reliable men among them on the bench to decide cases of dispute arising among themselves; the large bulk of the cases before the Courts there being apparently of this nature, and the foreign magistrates not understanding a single word of the documents or accounts on which they had to be decided. Mr. HENNESSY says that the result of this has been a marked increase in the respect which the natives have for justice, and that the system appears to be working well.
Our object in calling attention to the matter is chiefly to point out where such a system would be likely to fail if adopted in large Colonies, so that should there be any idea of following it, which is not unlikely, this may be done at all events with such precautions as are necessary. It is not impossible that some advantage may be gained by allowing the Chinese to settle their disputes their own way within certain limits; but at the same time we must not shut our eyes to the danger of such a system leading to a great deal of corruption. Perhaps, however, in regard to small suits, it would be found to work reasonably well; but such a plan would certainly have to be adopted with very great reservation in connection with matters where any large sums of money were at stake, while, as respects criminal cases, it is to be feared it would not work at all, as there would be too much danger of crimes being hushed up, the instinct of the native being always to deal with criminal matters, except of the very gravest character, rather as questions of compensation than in relation to the necessity of punishing the guilty and deterring others from committing offences. If any such plan as that adopted by Mr. HENNESSY in Labuan, were introduced into other Colonies, we are disposed to think that it should be confined to civil suits of trivial amount, say to the extent of $50 or $100; and that only when the working of the system had been thoroughly tested in this manner should the idea of extending it to more important cases be entertained, and that it should not be applied at all to criminal matters. The great difficulty we have in dealing with the Chinese is their inveterate habit of cliquing together, so that we never can be sure that any given man will not be under the influence of such combinations to an extent such as will render the administration of justice by natives an impossibility. This is proved to be the case with Chinese officials in their own country, and we cannot see any reason to conclude that the same kind of difficulty would not be felt in British Colonies. In respect to small money claims, this kind of influence would not be of so much importance, as the stake would generally be considered too small to make it worth while to bring such influence to bear; and by watching the proceedings, it might be quite possible to detect anything like serious corruption. But in criminal matters, as we all know, the natives will generally spare no pains to get their clansmen or fellow society men clear of punishment—indeed, this is one of the express objects of such associations—and it would, therefore, be folly to give them criminal jurisdiction. Another point which ought not to be lost sight of in connection with the adoption of such a system as that introduced in Labuan by Mr. HENNESSY in Hongkong, is that the Chinese here are much more under the influence of their countrymen on the mainland than can be the case in a distant colony, and they would, therefore, be subject to much more pressure. Consequently, we cannot here afford so easily to place any great power in their hands. Still, if in small ways we can give some kind of official recognition to the natives, so as to remove the idea of class distinction, which is undesirable, it would no doubt be a good thing; but it is very important to bear in mind that such a step might be attended with inconvenience, and that if taken at all, it should be adopted only with the greatest caution.
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