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April 4, 1904.)
HILLI, DISTRICT REŠLEVATION.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill entitled An Ordinance for the Reservation of a Residential area in the Hill District.
The ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
The objects and reasons of this Bill are as follows: This measure has as its object the reservation of that portion of the Island of Hongkong commonly known as "the Peak"
as a place of residence for persons other than Chinese. The reservation of this district is desirable in order that a healthy place of residence may be preserved for all those who are accustomed to a temperate climate and to whom life in the tropics presents the disadvantage of an unnatural environment.
BANÈSHMENT,
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill entitled An Ordinance to amend Ordinance No. 8 of 1882 entitled "The Banishment and Conditional Pardons Ordinance, 1882."
The ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
This Bill is to empower the Governor in Council, in the interests of order and good government, to remove from the Colony persons who after they have acquired by naturalization the status of British subjects become a source of danger to the peace, order and good government of the Colony. The Bill provides that in case of the banishment of any naturalized person his status as a British subject shall ipso facto be suspended or cancelled as the case may be. Power is reserved to His Majesty to disallow any suspension or cancellation of naturalization. Somewhat similar legislation has been adopted in the Straits Settlements.
The object of the Bill is the prevention of crime in the New Territories. There are in that portion of the Colony many bad characters who go about in armed gangs robbing the peaceable inhabitants. There have of late been numerous cases in which inhabitants of the New Territory have been convicted of armed robberies on junks and boats and of robberies with violence in the night-time on land and afloat with and without arms. It is desirable that power should be taken to banish, if necessary, such persons after they have undergone imprisonment.
There are also cases in which persons guilty of the serious crimes mentioned, though well known, escape punishment on account of the difficulty, for fear of reprisals, in getting witnesses to come forward against them in the Law Courts. As the law stands such persons, though a constant menace to peace and good order, cannot be banished if naturalized subjects by operation of the Lease of the New Territories or otherwise. The present Bill gives power to deal by way of banishment with such bad characters, and it is believed that when they learn that they may be banished from the Territory the effect for good upon them will be considerable.
C. O.
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