Ansi
Curie
Dup. w...@.
No.165.
Sir,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG. 31st March, 1932.
I have the honour to address you on the subject
of the enrolment of, and the grant of commissions to,
foreign subjects in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps.
2. In 1927 the then Attorney General gave it as his
opinion that as section 3 of the Volunteer Ordinance,
Ordinance No. 2 of 1920 made it lawful for the Governor to
accept the services of "any persons" in the Corps, there
was no legal obstacle to the enlistment of aliens. It
may however be argued that this interpretation of the law
is incorrect, and that section 3 of Ordinance No. 2 of 1920
is void and inoperative under section 2 of the Colonial
Laws Validity Act, 1865, on the ground of its repugnancy
to the Act of Settlement, 1700, which prohibits aliens
from holding any office civil or military; and that consequently the words "any persons" in section 3 should
be construed as "any British persons".
3. As a result of the opinion of the Attorney
General in 1927 referred to above, two Portuguese Companies
were formed, and there are in the Corps today four
commissioned officers and one hundred and seventeen other
ranks who are "local" Portuguese, i.e., persons born or
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
SIR P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER, G.B.E., M.C., M.F.,
&c.,
&C.,
&c.
domiciled
18