Enclosure 1.
The Daily 19557
REC
HONG KONG, Ocronpa Tori, 1:41.
19 NOV 341 HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
An extraordinary meeting of the Legislative Council was held at 11 am. yesterday, when there were present :---
His Excellency the Administrator, Hon. W. H. MARSH, C.M.G.
Hon. Sir GEORGE PAILLIPPO, Chief Justice. Hon. F. STEWART, Acting Colonial Sengetary. Hon. E. L. O'MALLEY, Attorney-General. Hon. A. LISTER, Colonial Treasurer. Ho J. M. PRICE, Surveyor-General. Hon. P. RYRID.
Hon. T. JACKSON.
Hon. F. D. SASSOON. Hon. WONG SKING.
MINUTES,
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.
THE DISTURBED STATE OF THE COLONY.
Bis Excellency the ADMINISTRATOR-Hơn. members of the Legislative Council, I have felt myself compelled to summon you today to this extraordinary meeting of the Council, in order to ask you to pass some legisla. tion which, in the opinion of the
Go vernor and of the Executive Council, is neces- sary at the present moment, for the purpose of strengthening the hands of the Executive and to take some measures to prevent the recur. renco of the disturbances which took place last Friday. I believe the Government possess at the present moment powers sufficient to suable them to put down any such disturbances should they occur again, and they will not hesitate to exercise such powers should it unfortunately be cone necessary. But I consider it the duty of the Government to take all the precautionary measures it can with a view of proventing the recurrence of disturbances, and not to trust alone to its power of suppressing them when they have once commenced. Loss of life and destruc- tion of valuable property are often the result of the neglect of such precautionary measures. Upto the present moment the Government bas takon all the steps which it considers necessary, and I think I may say it has done so with success. believe the appearance on the scone of the dis- turbance of the pickets of the Buffs prevented those disorders from being more extensive than they were, and I think it right to take this opportunity of acknowlodging the cordial support. the local Governmout has received from His Ex- cellency Major-General Sargant on this occasion. Capt. Dempster and the police under his orders have also shown great forbearance and firmness; and the thanks of the Government are also due to those patriotic Justices of the Peace who so cheerfully responded to the pall of the Govern ment to assist the overworked Police Magis- trates. Although no recurrence or extension of the disturbances has taken place, yet the Government is in possession of reliable in- formation that there
at the present moment in Hongkong a number of tur- bulent men who are members of the Triad
are
I
Society, whose presence is dangerous to
the peace and good order of the colony. I think that the Executive should have larger powers given it to enable it to deal with these people, in order that they may send them away from the colony as soon as possible. With this view the Attorney-General will lay before you a I draft Bill, and I hope the hon. members will see their way to pass this Bill through ai: its stages to-day, so that it may be brought into force at once. 1 may mention also to the Council that telegraphed to Sir Harry Parkes at Peking, informing him that there had been some disturbances here. and that I considered the origin of them was a proclamation issued by the authorities at Cható... I just mentioned that there had been riots, and Sir Harry Parkes usked me to telegraph information as to their character and extent, and yesterday I received the following answer from him, which, I think, is | very satisfactory: Received your telegram of this morning. İsre addressed to the Tsung- li-Yamen strong representation, a copy of which I have sent you by to-day's post."
the
:
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL-I have to ask leave to introduce a Bill to supplement the existing provisions of the law in certain respects, for the better securing of the peace and good order of the colony. I may state to the Council at once that I shall propose the suspension of the Standing Orders with a view of suabling us to pass this Bill at once. Your Excellency bas explained the reasons for which it has been thought necessary to summon this special meet- ing of the Council, but perhaps I may add that the determination to take that course was not arrived at till late Vesterday afternoon, and owing to the extremely short space of time that has boon available for the preparation of this meeting, it has not been possible to have copies of the Bill printed so that it could be placed in the hands of the members. The provisions which it is proposed to include in the Ordinance are sub- stantially to supplement existing Ordinances in three points. There are, as hon. members of the Council are aware. Ordinances regulating the keeping of ammunition and dangerous goods- explosives and other dangerous goods-and there are also Ordinances regulating to some limited extent the carriage of arms. There are, how- ever, no Ordinances in the colony preventing the possession of arms, or the sale of arms. There are also provisions enabling the Governor----- provisions to be found in Ord. 8 of 1882-an- abling the Governor in Connoil by order to bauish from the colony persons, not boru or naturalised British subjects, for a space not ex- cending five years, and enabling him, by the same or subsequent order, to fix the time of the departure of such persons from the colony. That was the provision which was embodied in Ord. S of 1882 in substitution for certain provisions contained in previous Ordinances which were illegal from their start, that is to say, which as- sumed to make provision which was beyond the power of any Colonial legislature to make, Banishment was substituted for the old term "deportation," and is provided for in that sep- tion. But the section does not provide for the arrest and custody of the person to be banished, and the carrying out of the order against him. and it is intended to supplement Ordinance 8 of 1882 by a provision for the carrying out of that order. Then there are provisions in the Ordin- ance relating to matters for which hitherto no law has been provided. Amongst other things there is a provision to forbid the publishing of notices or proclamations in the Chinese language without first obtaining permission from the Re- "gistrar-General, and there are punishments for. defaring and pulling down proclamations issued by the Government. As regards the first class of provisions, those with reference to the having or carrying of arms, the scope of the Ordinance is this. No Chinese person shall have or car- ry any arms within the colony, except he is an- thorised by the Government. There is this provision enabling the Governor in Council to graut licences to proper persons, and on proper conditions, to carry and have arms. There is a provision which will enable the polios to search -and the powers given are very large-hönser or buildings, vessels, ships, or places, for arms which may be there in contravention of the Or- dinance, and enabling them to seize arms, and declare them in such cases to be forfeited to the Crown. Now it is intended that this Ordinance shall come into operation immediately upon the passing of it; that provision is made entirely under pressure of extreme eirenastances. It would have been better if it had been possible to allow some considerable time to elapse in order that those persons who are in possession of arma for the purpose of trade or other logitinente par- poses should not be inconvenienced, or at least till they might be able to dispose of them in their own way and without interference. But it is not possible to do so; the public necessity pro- ! clados us from allowing them that grace, and therefore provision is made under which, even thougharias orammunition may be seized and tak- en, if the Governor should be satisfied from the cir. cumstances that the person who is in possession of them at the time they are seized was not willingly and knowingly in possesion of thom in contraven- tion of this Ordinance--and that would apply to almost everyone whose arms may be seized within the next few days--that these armas should be taken possession of by the Governor, and disposed of in one of three ways. Either they will be returned to the person or persons from whom they were seized with permission to have or carry them in accordance with the conditions of such licences as shall be granted; or he may return them to those persons for immediate exportation, subject | to such conditions as may be provided; or he may take the armas at a valuation assessed by the
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24 2039 Surveyor