under the
from the Colony The way be released.
agreement,
the
ack
One of the objects in allowing vagrant to be released is this: He may tell the Superintendent not to send him to England or to his native country, stating that if released, he has a chance of employment in Canton or some other neighbouring port, to which he could work his way.
In such a case it would only be fair to give the man another chance.
theve are the principal provisions relating to vagrant in the Colony.
sailor not
Section 21 deals with two categories. The first consists of those who land in Hongkong, or who have left the army to take employment with any person, company, or body of persons; and the second comprises any being a British subject, who is discharged from a ship in this Colony. If any included in these two categories become chargeable on the Colony as a vagrant within one year of his landing or discharge from his ship, the cost of his removal and all other charges incurred by the Colony may be recovered from the person to whom he was engaged to serve, or if a sailor from the owner or agent of the ship, from which he was discharged.
In this Section the words "not being a British sailor" have been inserted; they are to be found in the Indian Act, but I propose to strike them out, and thus to make this section apply to all sailors other than Chinese; my reason for so doing is that we constantly have cases of British subjects discharged from American ships who become destitute at once, very soon after their discharge.
The Consul for the United States says that, in the case of a sailor not being a subject of the United States being discharged from an American ship, his duty and powers are limited to seeing that the sailor receives what is due to him, and that he cannot by the law of the United States require the Captain to give any guarantee respecting the subsistence