-4-
require no special legal comments except to say that, so
far, banks have only been authorised in the terms of the
very limited authorisation attached hereto and marked "B".
b) Military Courts Proclamation No final
directive has yet been received on the subject of Renegades
and Quislings. Meanwhile it has been assumed that trial
will be by the Military Courts set up under this Proclame-
tion whereas Tar Criminals will be tried by special Courts.
A number of questions on the latter have been addressed to
I have done my best to answer these, while intimating
that it is not a Civil Affairs responsibility and that the
Judge Advocate's Department should be asked to send
me.
representatives.
legislation.
c) Gazette
It is hoped to bring out the First
Gazette collection on the 2nd or 3rd of October and this
report will then be despatched together with the Gazette.
8. No reports are furnished on subsidiery
The following appear to call for comments:
a) Regulation No.2 Legal publication and
Records A Notice has been issued to the public in the
form attached hereto and marked "C" which generally gives
the reasons for the measure. It may be stated in addition
thet quite apart from a deficit in the records of the
Supreme Court and the Magistracies, most of the legsl
practitioners who were either inte ned or were prisoners-of-
wer, have lost most of their books and papers. It is how-
ever hoped that the Regulation may assist in the recovery
and of such books and papers as well as official ones,
that these may supplement official information.
b) Order No.1 This was considered necessary in
order to enable Civil Affairs to apply a number of
8
Pa
5-
9
ordinances. It is only a start in that, such important matters
as licensing etc. have yet to be investigated, and the necessary
It was authorities for the enforcement of the law, substituted.
delayed in order to make the transition as painless as possible
while former heads of departments still continue to be in the
colony. I had, at one time, considered advising the Chief Civil
Affairs Officer to vest in the Colonel (C.A.) Legal, powers etc.
of the Chief Justice, but it seems better to deal with these
separately as the need arises e.g. as in Article 1 (c) of Pro-
clamation No.11.
9. Action apart from legislation.
The Standing
Military Courts were opened at the Supreme Court on the 24th day
of September, 1945. I attach herewith, marked "D" covering a
Since then, Mr. Leo D'Almada newspaper report on the proceedings.
has presided over Summery Military Court, Class I at Hongkong, whilst Lieut. Nigel attended to similar duties under Class I at
Kowloon. Mr. Kwan who has been authorised to sit over Summary
The following cases Military Court Class II, has not yet done so.
have been tried:-
STANDING MILITARY COURT OF HONGKONG SUMMARY COURT CLASS I
List of No. of Convictions from 24th/30th September
e9
Pa
Charge
No.of Cases
Possession of Arms &
Ammunition
No.of Convictions
32
1
~RHA+A
2
3 Committed for
trial 1
2
2
1
1
4
1
142
4
2
Murder
Receiving stolen property
Larceny from person
Larceny with Kenace
Larceny from a dwelling house Larceny (simple)
Demanding money with menaces Cutting or breaking wooden fixture of an Unoccupied house
Unlawful possession
Order for confiscation
Loitering in an empty house for an unlawful purpose
Total
•
•
22
d[v
43
137
e9
Pa
Pa
-6-
---
STANDING MILITARY COURT OF KOWLOON
SUMMARY COURT CLASS I
List of No. of Convictions from 25th/30th September
Charge
Possession of Arms &
Ammunition
Simple Larceny
Demanding money with
Menaces
Armed robbery
No.of Cases
Convictions
42
1 3
(2 discharged
at Summary Court.
1 committed
to General Court.)
2 C
1
10
10. In earlier days in the New Territories, it
was not possible to take judicial action in the case of
petty offences, but Col. (C.A.) Police toured the New
Territories on the 30th September together with Lieut.Nigel.
It is proposed to arrange either for offenders to be brought
into Kowloon or for The Kowloon Summary Military Courts to
go to Tai Po.
11. Attempts to find personnel to staff Courts
have, so far, shown no service personnel with the necessary
legal qualifications to preside over a General Military
Court or even over a Summary Military Court Class I. On
the other hand the Services have promised personnel to sit
as members of General Courts and the number of local solici-
tors who have been temporarily absorbed into the Department
enables one to manage better than one could have hoped. It
should nevertheless be borne in mind that some of these are
volunteers or internees and should be encouraged to go on
leave at the end of the year.
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