J 10
B.—SOUTHERN DISTRICT.
1. STAFF.
I was in charge of the office until June 15th, when Mr. E. I. Wynne-Jones took over and acted until November 14th, when I resumed charge and acted until the close of the year. During the absence of Mr. Wynne Jones on sick leave from 13th August to 18th September, Mr. Schofield acted as District Officer, in addition to his duties in the Chinese Secretariat.
Mr. Man Ching-hei Shroff, absconded on 19th April and Mr. Tang Ting-chan was appointed on probation to fill his post on 5th May. Mr. Wei Sun went on sick leave on 26th August and had not recovered sufficiently to resume his duties before the end of the year. Mr. Wei's long and faithful service in this Department is well known to past District Officers and much regret will be felt on account of his continued ill-health.
2.—MAGISTRACY.
The District Officer sitting as Police Magistrate heard during the year 127 cases affecting 242 persons. 173 persons were convicted or bound over, 22 were discharged and 47 imprisoned. The following table gives a comparison with 1920 and 1921.
1920 1921 1922 No. of cases 115 161 127 No. of persons affected 172 261 242 No. of persons convicted or bound over 108 155 173 No. of persons discharged 26 10 22 No. of persons imprisoned 38 66 47 Fines $459.17 $1,455.25 $1,705.85 Arms Fines $275.00 $25.00 $150.00 Forfeitures $61.30 $190.00 $183.253.—SMALL DEBTS COURT.
56 cases were instituted during the year as compared with 75 in 1921 and 115 in 1920, and thus the decrease in numbers was maintained. Undoubtedly the economic improvement of the district has been a great factor in this. Moreover, cases, in which default on Money-loan Associations featured, were discouraged as far as could be done with justice to the parties concerned. In general, I see no reason to reconsider the views I expressed in my report for 1921.
4.—LAND OFFICE.
The number of land sales and other transactions affecting land which took place in 1922 are set forth in Table A. 1,423 deeds were registered during the year as compared with 1520 in 1921. Registration fees for 1922 were $4,892.80 as compared with $3,529.00 in 1921.