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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Minor Offences
Hawkers charged
Other cases charged
1934. % 1935.
16030 57.80 23567
11703 42.20 9433
%
1936.
%
71.41 26072 69.44
28.59 11474 30.56
Total
27733
100.00 33000 100.00 37549 100.00
I notice that in 1935, out of a total of over 23,000 cases, only 583 were discharged, and that in 1936, out of a total of over 26,000, only 576 were discharged. Even if half of the convicted cases involved imprisonment in default of payment of fines imposed, we need not be surprised at the overcrowding of the gaol! And it will be seen that the number of cases, from 1934 to 1936, has increased from 16030 to 26075, i.e. an increase of over 10,000 cases.
I do respectfully commend the above figures to Your Excellency's attention.
I can speak from experience as to how much time has to be expended in regard to cases in Court. The Police officer in charge has to attend Court at the opening of the Court and wait his turn, and sometimes his turn may not come until the end of the session, when the Magistrate has no alternative but to adjourn his case. Of the 26,000 hawker cases dealt with by the Magistrate in 1936, I do not know how many were cases in which the hawkers charged pleaded guilty, and how many were cases which involved actual hearing of evidence. Assuming that, on an average, each case took only 2 minutes of the Court's time to dispose of, then it is obvious that the 26,000 cases absorbed 52,000 minutes or over 866.6 hours. I suppose each Magistrate, again on an average, spends about 5 hours each day in Court. Therefore 866.6 hours represent over 173 Court days of one Magistrate! And the expenditure of time on the part of the Police in regard to the 26,000 cases must of course be even greater. If those cases had not been brought, the time and energy saved would have been tremendous, and in this connection I doubt very much whether a third Court at the Central Magistracy would be necessary.
I feel strongly that the whole problem of hawkers in Hong Kong should be reviewed by a Commission, and that the specific questions to be placed before the Commission for investigation and report should include the questions as to whether or not the licence of hawkers other than for certain types of foodstuffs, which may constitute a real and not a theoretical danger to public health, should not be abolished altogether, and as to how "hawker cases" can be dealt with other than by a Cadet Magistrate, and at reduced expense to the Colony. In any case I hope that any Police officer who has an undue number of hawker cases to his credit, will be reprimanded, rather than commended, by the I.G.P.
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