472
A little difference exaggerates them in the minds of ordinary jury men into wilful felonies.
In my opinion, and I'm Police & subordinate inspectors of a beat able to judge, a Magistrate with some experience of the ways of Chinese, and Police Constables (and especially Magistrates with a knowledge of the Chinese Language) are better able to investigate the facts of a case and are therefore more likely to do justice than an ordinary jury composed of persons of various nationalities, many of whom have but imperfect knowledge of English.
The case of obtaining false pretences at the last Criminal Sessions is a case in point. The Magistrate only committed the prisoner for trial because of a previous conviction (and sentences to 12 months imprisonment).
It is likely that a Chinese defendant in Hong Kong, composed as it is of persons of various nationalities, many of whom have but imperfect knowledge of English, would be misunderstood. Very few of our jurymen understand the case properly.
It is such circumstances of this Colony that lead to the "unfitness of juries" (to quote the words of the late Mr. Stewart, a former Attorney General, Registrar General and Colonial Secretary) which have long since almost passed into a proverb.