The China Mail.
HONG KONG, THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1903.
Mr Humphreys has performed a service in calling attention to the ease of unpunished crime in the Colony. In a letter addressed to our contemporary, he quotes three criminal acts, and then states he is informed that there were no less than 71 thefts in different parts of the Colony on one day. Mr Humphreys suggests a stricter enforcement of the Vagrancy Act, which, we take it, means that His Excellency the Governor should exercise the powers conferred on him by Ordinance to deport undesirable aliens.
It is not merely this common form of crime only, that many Europeans, when robbed, never entertain the thought of reporting the affair to the police. In his report for 1902, Mr F. J. Badeley, Captain Superintendent of Police, states that the value of the property reported stolen during the year was $248,469, and of this only $10,383 was recovered.
We quote these figures not as showing the inefficiency of the Police Force, which has its own handicaps to overcome, but as proving the loss a section of the community has to suffer at the hands of undetected criminals. This is not all. Mr Badeley informs the Government that during 1902, there was an increase of cases reported to the police of 13.61 per cent., and it is important to observe that in the division of these cases into serious and minor offences there appears an increase, as compared with 1901, of 594 (or 17.45 per cent.) in serious cases, and of 655 (or 11.35 per cent.) in minor cases. The increase, as compared with 1901, in serious cases is a matter of grave concern.
Burglary or Larceny in dwelling...321 Assault with intent to rob...11 Kidnapping, &c.,...2 Unlawful Possession...79 Larceny...612 Felonies, not already stated...18 Deduct decrease in Robbery...16 Total......594The nature of some of the serious cases might be stated. They include 4 cases of murder; 11 manslaughter; 1 not taken into account; 34 gang-robberies, in connection with 10 of which only people were arrested, although 15 cases took place in the City of Victoria; 14 cases of robberies from junks and boats: 18 street and highway robberies (one European lady robbed on Magazine Gap Road of a silver watch, gold pencil case, $7, &c.), in only 6 of which were persons arrested; and 146 cases of housebreaking, &c.
Mr Humphreys' suggestion commends itself to all residents, European or Chinese, whose duty it is to keep the Colony clear of undesirable criminals. Now, this is a duty upon the Government, and if shown that crime is on the increase, then it will be the duty of the community—as was done in 1901 in connection with the sanitary question—to petition the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It is highly undesirable that the Colony should be allowed to drift into the state it was in during the administration of Sir John Pope Hennessy.
His ultra-humanitarian policy was responsible for a great increase of serious crime, so much so that an indignation meeting was held on the Cricket Ground, and a series of resolutions passed practically condemning the then Governor. It will be a lamentable blunder if, by inaction, His Excellency allows a feeling of insecurity to life and property to grow up in the Colony.
The community may not be so independent as it was in 1879, but the instinct of self-preservation is still as strong in human nature, and the public will not allow itself to be bled too freely out of consideration for official feelings.
The relationship between the Colonies and the Mother Country has changed since Sir John Pope Hennessy's time, and there is more interest taken in Colonial affairs nowadays by the Press in England, by means of which local grievances can be forced upon the attention of the Imperial authorities.
The increase of crime in the Colony and the inability of the police to keep down the number of undesirable aliens in the Colony, and it is surely sufficient to convince the Executive that some reform is necessary in the treatment of Chinese criminals. By the sentences imposed, the Police Magistrates and Judges of the Supreme Court may do their part to grapple with the problem. He has the means at hand with which to deal drastically with the criminal class, and it seems to be his duty to utilise those means without further delay.