COPY.
No. 2.
A C. O. 24851 Pref Res 14 JUL 04.
18, Bank Buildings, Hongkong, 16th October, 1903.
Dear Mr. Attorney,
I have submitted "The Undesirable Persons Introduction Bill", as revised by the Law Committee to date, for the consideration of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and their arguments have thoroughly convinced me that this Bill, although it may seem in the abstract to be a desirable one, is absolutely unworkable in practice.
To begin with, I would mention that 2,000,000 passengers are computed to travel by steamer between Hongkong and Canton (altogether apart from the large junk traffic) in the course of a year. These steamers have never carried doctors, and it is manifestly impossible for either the "Owner, Charterer, Agent, Consignee or Master" to examine each passenger shipping or arriving by a Canton steamer and to undertake to say whether or not they are "lunatic, idiotic or imbecile or blind or suffering from leprosy or other incurable disease".
Presumably the Government have in view the appointment of qualified officers to board vessels as they arrive, examine every passenger, keep a record of same, and, when necessary, to order passengers to be carried back to Canton and to issue authority to the "Owner, Charterer, Agent, Consignee or Master" to carry out their decision. Otherwise, what power is to be placed in the hands of the "Owner, Charterer, Agent, Consignee or Master" to enable them to carry out the terms of the Bill when undoubted cases come under their observation?
The Honourable
The Attorney General.