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HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
adopted the identical motion on which I am now addressing you. The compo- sition of this Committee is so well known to your Excellency and this Council that I am certain its carefully con i red opinion will not fail to carry the weight it deserves with the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
think, these men when they come back, if they find the Germans established here in the same old way! The thought to me would be intolerable, as I think it would be to them.
HON. MR. 1.
E. POLLOCK--Sir,
I submit that this resolution ought to be accepted by the Government, sup- ported, as it is, by the expert opinion of the business-men composing the Com- mittee of the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce. On such a matter as this the opinion of such a body is entitled to the greatest possible weight. It is sought by this motion to pass on that opinion to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Surely that is a very proper course for this Council to adopt. I would even go so far as to say that it is the positive duty of this Council to pass on this opinion of business-men to the Secretary of State, seeing that that official is the representative of the Crown Colonies upon the Imperial Committee which is sitting to consider post-war trade prob-
HON. MR. C. E. ANTON-Sir, I beg to second the motion. The proposer of the motion has gone so very largely over the ground that I think it is not neces sary for me to go into details, which would only cause repetition. But I am in accord, fully in accord, with the motion's contention; the desirability of excluding Germans for a period of years from this Colony. It has been said, and rightly said, that we are not warring against the German people, and at the beginning of the war there was an ele ment of truth in that, Sir. But I think it can be said that from the beginning the entire German nation has been war+ ring against us and our Allies. And if they had been successful in their world-lems. wide designs I am sure that if they had accomplished their ends the rest of the world would have had very little consideration and sympathy from our enemies. Now it is reported that some sections of the people in Germany are blaming their rulers for the position they have got themselves into. But, after all, Sir, I think that the people are re- sponsible for the Governors, and I think, that being so, we must hold the people of Germany responsible for all their atrocities and the violation of all laws, human and divine, which have been carried out. We cannot really, I think, exclude them from responsibility. As regards the commercial side, we have heard it argued that the Germans should be excluded from the Colony, and there is something to be said for that, though I think it will not carry very such weight. We must look, I think, to the sentimental side of the position which, to a large extent, governs such things throughout the world. And we must act, I think, on principles of humanity, righteousness and justice. Another point I ought to make, and that is in connection with the men who have gone home to fight, many of them, alas! who have made the last sacrifice. We hope that a large number of them will return, and what do we think these men would
Surely this Colony, through its Council, must have the right to instruct its own representative. Surely, we are not going to be told that either the Con- stitution of this Colony or instructions from the Secretary of State forbid the passing of such a resolution as this, Then what other argument can be advanc ed for not acceding to this motion? Are we to be told that this motion cannot be accepted on the plea that it will em- barrass the Home Government? Such a plea would, I submit, be absolutely un- sound, for the reason that this resolution involves no conflict whatever between this Council and the Home Authorities. We are simply asking for leave to lay the views of this Colony, this important outpost of Empire in the Far East, before the Home Authorities. Are we to be refused such leave! Sir, I have considered this resolution, and the possible grounds of Government objec tion to it, from every point of view, and I have been finally forced to one con- clusion. namely, that, if the Government refuses to vote for this motion, it can do so logically and constitutionally on one single ground only, namely, on the ground that it does not agree with this resolution. Now, as I have already urged, the opinion of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce ought to be conclusive with the Government upon
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
or 50.
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the mercantile aspect of this question. pressly formed to secure a big share of Therefore, as a mere matter of cold busithe business formerly in the hands of ness, there can be no doubt that this the Germans. But this resolution, Sir, motion ought to be accepted by the is based on higher motives and on public Government. Bat, Sir, this resolution grounds, and it is precisely the has something more behind it than mere same grounds that I have reluctance in dollars and cents. We are fighting the taking up the position I am taking. cause of civilization against barbarism.
After listening to what my hon. colleagues At a recent meeting at the Aldwych Club, Pposite have said I am still not certain Sir Edward Carson, the First Lord of forced it would be in the best interests that if the suggested measure were en- the Admiralty, said: "We have to deal of the Colony. It may be so and it may with an cremy who has set at naught all not be, for no-one can tell for certain the humanities which, as the result of what will happen in the next ten years centuries, have been embodied in our International Law." That is the opinion of a very eminent lawyer, and, when we consider the nature of some of those breaches of law, such as the indiscrimin- ate submarining of passenger and hos pital ships, and the wholesale sowing of the seas with floating mines, and when we also consider the brutal treatment meted out to our prisoners-of-war, by German womẹn aa well as by German men, we must surely refuse a welcome back to our shores to people of German nationality people who are not only brutal to the living but even desecrate the remains of the dead. Sir, my honour- able friend has pointed out that the Dominions are at one with us in their sentiments upon this subject, and I would add that Great Britain is equally at one with us, for, at a recent meeting in London, Sir Algernon Firth, the Pre- sident of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom, said:" Of this I am certain, that the people of this country will never again stand German intrigue and German spying and German monopoly and dis honest trading, such as have beau tolerat- ed for the last 20 or 30 years in this country. Let the Government back us up, and we will show that British pro- ducers are the best in the world. that is what we are asking for now. We are asking the Government to 13 up."
JJ
mind the surrounding countries. Unless At any rate, we have to bear in these countries fall into line with us the advantage aimed at hy the resolution would be nullified. However successful we might be in keeping the Germans out of this Colony it would be nothing with- out the co-operation of these surrounding countries to prevent the Germans from setting up competition close to our doors under no control whatever. Again, Sir, it should be borne in mind that if the measure were to be adopted in Hongkong it would have to be applied to every part of the Empire. In my opinion it is an Imperial question and one that might well be left in the hands of the Imperial Government, which, strengthened and from India, can safely be trusted by representatives from the Dominions
to arrive at a conclusion in the highest interests of the Empire. It is, there fore, Sir, with due deference and I would suggest that the resolution be a proper sense of responsibility that
allowed to stand over. In conclusion. Sir, I might say that I am in sympathy with that part of the resolution which suggests the placing of Germans under strict licence.
HON. MR. WEI YUK I beg to sup- port all that has been said by my Bir, colleague. I shall vote against the resolu-
tion. "back
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALI do not propose, Sir, to address myself to the motion generally, but I would like to say a few words on two points. The bon. member who proposed the resolution sup- ported it on two grounds. The first ground was one of sentiment. In sentiment I think we are all at one with him, and our inclinations point in the same direction
HON. MR. LAC CHU PAK-Sir, while sympathising with the object of the resolution, I am afraid I cannot support it in toto for reasons I am going to give. At the outset I would like to say that if I wore to consult my own inclinations and wishes I would ask for the Germans to be excluded not only for ten years but 20 his. The only matter in which we for ever and a day, for I have large might differ perhaps is as to how and interests in companies recently and ex- when and where this sentiment should be