30
31
481
we have little, if any
security
better.
19.
if
-naturally
on this head than
we had conceded the Chinese
demand without investigation.
※
with
19.
*
As
confirmation of the above view of Chinese evidence, I am indebted to the Attorney General for the following account of what is a- frequent occurrence in the Supreme Court, especially when the prisoner is defended by Counsel. "The witnesses for the prosecution who have given their evidence-in-chief
every appearance of truthfulness, and about whose truthfulness in fact there "can hardly
be
any doubt, break down in "cross-examination under the test afforded "by a comparison of their evidence with "that given before the committing Magistrate. Discrepancies appear to which Juries are compelled according to all rules for judging "of evidence to give weight, and the prisoner is acquitted, notwithstanding the conviction "of every
one who hears the evidence that the
and "case against him was a true one the witnesses honest"
Your Lordship will
ask how,
if this
ever
view be correct, are we
quer able to obtain satisfactory
convictions on Chinese evidence
in
respect of
Crimes committed
in Hongkong? To this the
reply
is that we are not
always dependent
on
Chinese
evidence, that, when we are,
the witnesses are usual
more
usually
accustomed to
our
Court-proceedings than are those brought from the
interior