359
"Justice of the Peace, without warrant,
and
*such Justice may summarily hear the case, and
"on proof of the offence convict such offender
་ as aforesaid",
and was apparently drawn up to meet the smaller of-
fences which are the most common in frauds of this
nature. It is, however, quite inadequate to cover
an offence such as the aiders and abettors in the
*Kaifong's case have committed: here, no less
than one hundred and thirty four stowaways were
concealed in the vessel by the connivance of the
Native Crew,
-
Philippines,
and on arrival of the vessel in the
we were not only put to an enormous
amount of trouble and annoyance, forced to suffer
considerable expenses and delay to our Steamer, but
in addition to granting a bond of $70,000 gold to
secure the re-conveyance of the Stowaways back to
this Port, were threatened with a fine of a simi lar
amount, which would have been imposed, had it not
been for the fact that it was our own European Of-
Officers on board who first discovered the Stowaways
and reported the matter to the Authorities. It is
practically certain that had the United States Auth-
crities made the discovery for themselves, nothing
could have saved us from payment of a very serious
fine.
In our opinion it is therefore quite unreason-
able that even if we succeed in the difficult task of
bringing the culprits to justice, the maximum penalty
the Magistrate can possibly inflict will be a fine of
$500, and in default, imprisonment for a term not
exceeding six months.
We shall be much obliged if the Chamber will
take the matter up with the Goverment without delay,
with a view to having the Ordinance amended to meet
such contingencies.
We consider it should be suffi-
ciently far-reaching to include not only the guilty
parties amongst the vessels' crews, but also the
Stevedores, by whose connivance compartments are made
amongst cargo in the vessels' Holds for the accommo-
ficers
dation