No. 17.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Report from the Captain Superintendent of Police for the Year 1872, is published for general information.
By Coinmand,
CECIL C. SMITH, Acting Colonial Secretary.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 4th February, 1873.
No. 25.
VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 28th January, 1873.
SIR,-In accordance with your instructions, I have the honor to submit the following Report and Returns for the consideration of His Excellency the Governor.
2. I am happy to be able to report that the Crimes committed in 1872 were not in themselves of so serious a nature as those that occurred in the previous year. The Police were also more successful in arresting the Offenders.
3. The increase in the Miscellaneous Offences is so great, that I have added a Return which gives in detail the offences committed. It will be readily seen that the operation of new Ordinances in great degree accounts for this increase.
4. Three Murders were committed. In one case, a Soldier of II. M.'s 10th Regiment shot a comrade on guard; an acquittal on the grounds of insanity ensued. In the second case, a Chinaman having murdered a Chinawoman in Tai-ping-shan was cleverly captured by two Native Constables as he was leaving the Colony; he was duly convicted and executed. The third case was the murder of a Fisherman which took place on the Sea near the Eastern extremity of the Island; the shot which caused death was fired from a piratical vessel, which has not again been seen within British Jurisdiction.
5. The Piracies and Robberies in Chinese waters reported are few in number, but I have reason to believe that this falling off is due to the junk people who suffer being aware that no assistance is given by the British Authorities to trace pirate boats beyond their jurisdiction, and they, therefore, abstain from making reports.
6. The Highway Robberies recorded (five at least of which were false reports) were, with one exception, not of a serious nature. The total value of the property stolen in eigliteen undetected cases was under $100.
7. A decrease of 111 cases is recorded in the number of Burglaries and Larcenies from Dwelling houses. In the majority of cases, there was little moral doubt but that the thieves had an accomplice in the house. I cannot too strongly urge upon residents the advantage of prohibiting their servants from lodging friends or clansiuen at night.
8. Whilst on this point, I may again recommend that both servants and visitors should be made liable to punishment, when the latter have been allowed to sleep in a house contrary to the owner's instructions; and that the registration ticket of each servant should contain his description and photograph, together with the name of his native village, &c. (Letter No. 199 of 1871.)
9. The increase in the number of Gamblers arrested is the natural sequence of the discontinuance of licensed houses. The inveterate Gamblers have resorted to playing in the streets, and cases of arrest inore frequently occur. The amount of public gambling in houses was very sinall; several clubs, however, are opened, in which private gambling is carried on, but these are not amenable to law.
10. In January 1872, the issue of licenses for houses to be used as Publie Gaming Houses, was stopped by the recovation of the Rules and Regulations passed under Ordinance No. 9 of 1867. For Bonetime, the Chinese were in doubt as to the powers and intentions of the Government with reference o unlicensed houses. It was not therefore mutil May, that any house was opened for gambling. Measures were taken for effecting a seizure, which proved successful, and fines amounting to $800 were inflicted on the persons arrested. Taking advantage of the powers conferred by the Registration