transferred to Hong Kong from the Consular jail in
Shanghae in 1885, and the Secretary of State for the
Colonies expressed the opinion at the time that
the Consul in sending the man to Hong Kong had
exceeded his powers. This view appeared to be
justified by the fact that the father of the lunatic
who was then residing at Shanghae was in possession
of an income sufficient to make suitable provision
for the care of his son. An instruction was accord-
ingly addressed to Her Majesty's Minister at Peking
requesting him to make a communication to the Con-
sul at Shanghae in this sense and to consult with
the Crown Advocate of the Supreme Court as to the
proper method of providing for the lunatic's main-
tenance. No further report on the case of Edward
Wallace has been received until now, and Lord Salis-
bury remains in ignorance as to the exact circum-
stances of his discharge from the Hongkong asylum,
and return to Shanghae.
When, at a later period, Chief Justice and Consul General
Rennie asked to be furnished with general instruc-
*
instructions as to the care and custody of
lunatics
660
within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and as
to their removal, when necessary, to Hongkong or to
the United Kingdom, he was informed, under date of
July 14th. 1887, that, unless in his discretion such
a course should in any particular case appear to him
to be undesirable,
*persons adjudged to be lunatics by order of the
"Supreme Court at Shanghae should be sent home to
"this country
terms
This rule, although worded in somewhat general
>
It was
was clearly meant to apply only to British subjects domiciled in the United Kingdom, and not to
persons whose domicil is a British colony. shown in the correspondence which passed in 1886 that Edward Wallace was the illegitimate son, born in 1862 at Hongkong of Thomas Wallace, a British subject, and
a Chinese woman, and left Hongkong at the age of ten with his parents; proceeding first to Yokohama and later (1878) to Shanghae, where, soon after, he began
It appears to Lord
to show symptaes of lunacy.
tions
Salisbury
į