ut.
The COLONIAL SECRETARY replied as follows:-It is the general practice to report specially to the Secretary of State for the Colonies a case in which the unanimous or nearly unanimous vote of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council has been defeated by the vote of the official members. Such reports contain, where necessary, a statement explanatory of the reason for the official vote. A search through the Hansard reports of a number of years shows that there have been one or two exceptions, as, for instance, at the following pages:-1907 page 38; 1911, page 117; 1911, page 285; 1912, page 102.
It is intended that the premises of the Deutche Asiatische Bank and all other immovable property in the Colony of Hong- kong belonging to German firms which are being wound up under the Alien Enemies (Winding-up) Ordinances, 1914 to 1917, shall be sold by public auction within the course of the next 4 months.
It is proposed that all the sales shall be advertised for a period of 3 months, and that the sale of the premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank shall also be readvertised for that period. If the latter property were sold at a few days' notice intending pur chasers might be greatly inconveniencedi and embarrassed, as they may have to obtain instructions from United Kingdom or elsewhere.
RETURN OF THE GERMANS.
Hon. Mr. P. H. HOLYOAK, in accordance with notice of motion, moved the following resolution :-
"It is the opinion of this Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hong kong that persons of German nationality should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least 10 years following the declaration of peace; and that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict licence."
In doing so he said-Sir, I rise to make the following motion standing in my
Jame :-
"It is the opinion of the Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hong- kong that persons of German nationality
should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least ten years following the declara tion of Peace; and, that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict licence."
In speaking to the motion, and because I am most anxious to avoid anything in the nature of exaggeration on so important and fa reaching a matter as this. I crave the indulgence of your Excellency and th Council if I make rather free reference to
notes.
At the outset, I would say that we do not presume to dictate to the Home Government on a question which affects all parts of our wide-flung Empire, but, it is only a few days since your Excellency called attention in a meeting of the Legislative Council to the not wholly unworthy efforts of this Colony to help the Motherland in her hour of neei in one way or another, and we contend that these and our large annual military con tribution entitle us, at any rate, to indicate our wishes to the Home Government, and, with all deference, I believe that such i pronouncement will be welcomed by them for guidance when the whole question comes up for decision.
Australia, Canada and New Zealand have I believe, already indicated their wishes in no uncertain manner, and Hongkong with its great commercial interests surely cannot be excluded, especially when it is remembered that at the forthcoming Imperial Conference whilst the Dominions have their own re presentatives. Hongkong, with other Crown Colonies, will be represented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
It is noteworthy that in recent specches made by prominent world politiciana attempt is made to draw a line of demarcation between the German Government and the German people, and there is only too much cause to fear that directly peace has bee was the Prussians who marle the war and declared we shall hear on all sides that i that we have no quarrel with the peaceful
Teators.
Sir, the spirit which on the outbreak of war led to the disgraceful attacks in Berlin upon the Russian, French, and especially the British Embassies and compelled our Ambassador to slink out of Berlin in the! grey dawn, lost his party be attacked en departure; to the invasion of Belgium, with its attendant cold-blooded atrocities, as " Military necessity" in defiance of sacred
treaties: and Inter, to the murder of women and children on land and sea whilst German officers and men looked on and jeered; and, later still, to the starvation and torture of wounded and helpless prisoners of-war-this spirit is not the product of the war, but is The Prussian spirit which permeates the whole German nation-mah, woman and child and which will take yeaga to eradicate, and we say that the people who can rejoice over nameless crimes, such as these, who ravel in the pernicious doctrine that "might i right" and that necessity justifies any crime, however damnable in the eyes of the world it may be, and who can celebrate such an atrocious act as the sinking of the Lusitania by declaring a public school holi- Any, to say nothing of the deliberate murder of Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt and countless other horrors, are not fit to be received hereafter into the brotherhood of Nations until they have expitted their crimes against God and civilization and truly reform- ed their ways.
Speaking for the Mercantile Community of Hongkong, which has by far the largest stake in the Colony, I say that we have no lesire to be-indeed. that we will not be, if it can be avoided -associated in this Colony, either socially or commercially, with men and women who thus failed to realize what bonour, justice and mercy mean, who acknow- ledge neither International obligations nor treaty unless they stand to gain by doing so, and in whose nature there is no chord which vibrates to the claims of either.
A close study of the causes which led up to this terrible war and of Germay's deliberate acta thus far will convince anyone who is not blind to the truth that they are the inevitable result of the pernicious teaching of her professors and philosophers during the last two decades, and of the military and naval ambitions which were fostered by her rulera ill the present Armageddon was the climax. Beyond all this and as an argument which more particularly affects the welfare of Hong- kong, I have no hesitation in saying that the results of the German liquidations have abundantly proved that we are better without the Germans in trade, and that the vast business they created to our disadvantage was the result of most pernicious credit system which did infinite harm to the Colony and which, when the Germans were interned, left an aftermath of evil in the shape of huge accumulations of stocks, which the market could not possibly digest and which took months of weary efforts to disperse, whilst British trade languished in proportion and ja still doing so.
With the interament of our enemies, the trade of the port, by commen consent, and thanks to the energy of the Chamber of cash Commerce, was ones more placed upon basis. I will not weary you with concrete examples, but I ssy, unhesitatingly and with- out fear of contradiction, that the trade of the Colony is to-day in a healthier state than for years past, and in the name of British trade interests I plead with you that Germans shall not be allowed to return to the Colony for at least ten years to recommence their "Prussian tactics" in trade which did the Colony so much injury in the past.
Further, I cannot help feeling that we have delayed too long in giving China a lead in this connection, and that & bold declaration of our views may strengthen her own and inspire her to join the Allies whole-heartedly in declaring war upon the enemies of progress and induce her to intern or banish those within her boundaries; the more so when she recalls the fact that this same Prussian spirit unblushingly reveals itself in the Kaiser's instructions to his troops during the Boxer Rebellion "to show no quarter and to teach the Chinese the might of Germany's military fist and never to look askance at a German, and which is commemorated by the Ketteler Memorial" in Peking.
In conclusion, and leat it be urged that we have overlooked possible German competition from new centres to the detriment of Hong- kong, let it be said that, while we recognize such competition may arise, we are convinced it can be successfully met and are propared to face it, especially when it is remembered that German firms are unlikely for years to come to recive the great assistance they did from British banks and discount houses in London in pre-war days and, I hope, will never do again.
Finally, I would remind you that the views I have endeavoured, however incompetently, to set forth are unitedly shared and endorsed by the Committee of the Chamber of Com- merce, which, at a recent meeting specially convened to consider the whole matter, unanimously 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 considered opinion will not fail to carry the weight it deserves with the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
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 necessary for me to go into
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