Council. Very probably it is not approved but is it a banishment order is sent & the police and the man are found & will probably turn up again for the search Guard & make Chan usually difficult.
My part I cannot see why ill-disposed rascals should be allowed to remain & cause disorderly scenes in the Colony at all. The Colony is not responsible for their birth or bringing. The Governor can lash those who are a menace to the peace & good order of the Colony, and the wider the sense in which the phrase is construed the better for the Colony & the worse for no-one. Banishment is no real hardship to the Chinese loafer. It is only sending him back to the country which is responsible for his existence.
The word "Banishment" is in fact a misnomer, for it means, I take it, sending a person back to his native country who has no stake or interest in the Colony, to make his living. There are international susceptibilities to be considered, and we must avoid wounding the feelings of the Chinese Authorities. On the contrary, they are only too anxious to cooperate with us to clear the Colony of the characters who make it a safe base from which to execute robberies in their territories.
But with the present ideas & procedure, the utility of the power is restricted and has shown insignificant proportions, and if it is to do any good, the procedure must be altered. I suggest some such arrangements as the following:
A. The police should have the power to arrest in streets by day, Chinese who have the appearance of being rogues & vagabonds or are seen loitering in suspicious places or in a suspicious manner, & take them before a magistrate. If they are found to have no trade or...