'8
268
Chinese pirates and smugglers, and with the heterogeneous populace of this Colony, is something very different from any experience of English lawyers at home.
6.
It will be seen that the Judges of the Supreme Court recommend, for the reasons which they assign, the appointment of Mr. Wise, an English Barrister, now practising here. I have, of course, no personal knowledge of this gentleman's qualifications; but it will be seen that he took his degree at Cambridge with honours in Law; that he had some practice at the English Bar before he came out to Hongkong; that he is now in his 30th year, and that (which is an important point), he is learning the Chinese language. Experience has abundantly proved that it can never be foreseen how a man will succeed in a Colony until he has been actually tried there; and it certainly is in Mr. Wise's favour that he has already succeeded in gaining the confidence of the Judges of the Supreme Court. There is, moreover, truth in their observation