(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
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C. O.
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165
CONFIDENTIAL.
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No. 1.
SEP 37
SHOTION 7.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 18.)
(No. 159.)
Peking, April 1, 1907. Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 44 of the 2nd February last, in which you inclose a draft of instructions on the procedure to be followed in the issue of King's Regulations, and invite my observations on the subject.
So far as the procedure contemplated in these instructions is concerned, it seems to me, with one possible exception noted below, to meet all the requirements of the case; but there are one or two considerations connected with the general question of
venture to offer a few remarks. the issue of King's Regulations on which
Very few King's Regulations appear to have been issued in recent years, but the number has increased greatly during the last few months, although every care has been taken to restrict it as much as possible, and it seems not improbable, for the reasons given in my despatch No. 126 of the 12th ultimo, that applications for the issue of such Regulations may become more frequent in the future. The present system of issuing them in isolated cases when an emergency arises is likely, I fear, to lead to confusion and multiplicity of legislation. Shanghae, for instance, recently required an urgent Regulation for the discipline of the Indian police employed by the Municipal Council, and it was scarcely issued before Hankow asked for its application to the municipal police force at that port. It would tend to simplify matters if it were possible to legislate on a uniform basis for the common requirements of the various ports.
While fully indorsing the principle laid down in the 2nd paragraph of the instructions that urgent King's Regulations should be only issued as a very exceptional measure, experience both here and in Corea has shown me that there is one instance in which it is sometimes difficult to avoid having recourse to urgency. 1 refer to cases where His Majesty's Minister is called upon to join with his colleagues in framing Regulations for municipal purposes, or, as more generally happens, some modification of existing Regulations. The Ministers of other Powers generally appear to be able to give immediate effect to arrangements of this kind, and occasionally feel disappointed when they find that there will be a considerable delay before the British Representative is in a similar position.
The instructions omit, I notice, all provision for the annual collection and publication of King's Regulations. In practice this provision of the former Regulations does not seem to have been enforced, and it appears to be desirable that something should be done to make this subsidiary legislation more accessible to Consular officers and the general public. Even in the daily work of the Legation it sometimes requires a considerable search through the archives to ascertain if a particular set of Regulations has been duly issued in accordance with the terms of the Orders in Council, and I am under the impression that there are some Regulations in force at the ports which do not rest on a legal basis.
The whole question being one with which the Judge of the Supreme Court is far more competent to deal than I am, I propose to forward a copy of this despatch to Sir H. de Sausmarez, and invite him to forward to you any observations he may wish to offer on the subject.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
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