393
3
2
circumstanced community.
In the first place, it
will be recollected that the question of Government prosecutions of newspapers for libels on Government Officers has often been raised at Hongkong. The most recent instructions
on
the subject
are those contained in
Lord Kimberley's despatch to my predecessor, Sir John Pope Hennessy,
#
cessor; Sir John Pope Hennessy,
2:135 of the 27th October, 1881;- in which
he stated as follows.. "I
"I am of opinion
that an officer of the Government
cannot be permitted to determine
17057
for himself whether he shall take legal proceedings in respect of any newspaper criticism of the conduct of official business. The necessity,
or
expediency of such a step are questions
for the decision of the Governor in Executive Council, after careful
consideration of all the circumstances?
3.
Enclosure 1.
3
now-annexed
copy of
a letter recently addressed to the Colonial Secretary by the Surveyor-General, (the Honourable J. M. Price), respecting a defamatory article on the Public Works Department, which had
For
appeared