Mr. Cowell.
The Straits Settlements Report is a combined
Straits and F.M.S. Report. I do not think there is
anything in that to which we need particularly draw
the Committee's attention, or any special matters on
which we need to seek their advice.
Hong Kong. The present report always contains
some interesting statements and figures. It may be
that the Commission will notice the usual statement
on page 2 that both Victoria Gaol and the Lai Chi
Kok Gaol were overcrowded. The new Stanley Gaol has
now been opened with greatly increased and improved
accommodation. On pages 113 and 114 of the Hong Kong
Hansard for the 13th October the senior unofficial
member of the Council deplored what he regarded as the
too generous treatment of prisoners in the new gaol,
and another Chinese unofficial member, on pages 121
and 122 of that Hansard, deplored the police activities
7 prisons against hawkers, and suggested that the overcrowding could be attributed to such offenders being put in
gaol in default of payment of fines. The Government's
reply on page 144 of the Hansard of 20th October
informed the Council of the active scrutiny which was
being made of the question of a possible ill-effect
of the amenities offered in the new prison; and as
regards hawkers, the Colonial Secretary made some
observations about the prevalent poverty amongst the
mass of the Chinese population, and suggested that in
the first place the proper place to consider the
question of a right policy towards hawkers should be
the Urban Council (page 140 of Hansard of 20th October).
Although the Committee will be dealing with
the 1936 Report, I am inclined to think that they
should