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Sir.
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Inclosure 4 in No. 6.
Attorney-General's Office, April 9, 1875. I HAVE the honour to submit the following Report upon the Marriage Ordinance of 1875, passed yesterday by the Legislative Council:-
The state of the Marriage Laws of the Colony had been for some time under the consideration of the Government, and had formed the subject of correspondence with the Secretary of State. The draft of this Bill was submitted to and approved by the Earl of Carnarvon before it was laid before the Legislative Council.
The only Ordinance relating to marriages, No. 1 of 1852, enables parties to contract a civil marriage before a marriage registrar, and provides for the registra- tion of such marriages, but does not affect marriages solemnized by persons in holy orders. There is no official record of marriages so solemnized; the register of St. John's Cathedral and of the Roman Catholic churches being the private property of the ecclesiastical authorities of the two denominations.
The objects of this Ordinance are :—
1.) To provide a general register of all marriages hereafter to be celebrated in the Colony, without prejudice to the existing church registers, if the authorities think fit to continue them as well.
(2.) To place all denominations upon an equal footing in respect to the celebra- tion of marriage, and to enable all competent ministers of all places of public worship to celebrate marriage when the requirements of the civil power as to At the present time, ministers of religion notices, &c., have been complied with. who are not in holy orders can only marry persons belonging to their denomination if a marriage Registrar be present, and if the formalities prescribed by Ordinance No. 1 of 1852 have been duly performed.
With the view of collecting at the Registrar-General's Office the evidence of marriages already celebrated, all existing registers or certified copies are to be delivered to the Registrar-General; and for future marriages the certificate of celebration is to be made in duplicate,-one copy to be delivered to the parties, and the other sent to the Registrar-General.
In order to obtain due publicity of intended marriages, notice is to be given to the Registrar-General, and by him publicly exposed; and after fifteen days, and within three months, he may, if no valid objection is made, issue a certificate autho- rizing the celebration of the marriage. Power is, however, reserved to the Governor to grant licences dispensing with the length of notice, or even, in special cases, with all notice.
The Governor is authorized to license places of worship, and marriages are only to be celebrated on production of a certificate from the Registrar-General or a licence from the Governor. The Ordinance, like No. 1 of 1852, applies only to marriages where one at least of the parties professes the Christian religion.
In framing the Ordinance, regard has been had to similar laws in Ceylon and in the Australian Colonies, and this Ordinance is assimilated in its general principles to those laws, as far as the different circumstances of this Colony would permit.
In conclusion, I have the honour to advise that, inasmuch as the draft Bill received the sanction of the Secretary of State, it is unnecessary for his Excellency to reserve the Ordinance for Her Majesty's further approval, notwithstanding the objections made to it by the Roman Catholic Clergy.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
The Hon. Cecil C. Smith,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
JOHN BRAMSTON, Attorney-General.
No. 7.
The Earl of Carnarvon to the Officer administering the Government.
(Telegraphic.)
POSTPONE proclamation of Marriage Act.
Downing Street, June 15, 1875.
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No. 8.
The Earl of Carnarvon to the Officer administering the Government.
(No. 61.) Sir,
Downing Street, July 4, 1875. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the several despatches of April 13, 21, and 23,* inclosing an authenticated copy of Ordinance No. 4 of 1875, "to provide a general Register of Marriages celebrated in Hong Kong," together with the Report of the Committee of the Legislative Council, to whom the Bill was referred, and the usual Report of the Attorney-General-
2. You transmit also among the inclosures to these despatches a letter addressed to me by Bishop Raimondi and certain members of the Roman Catholic clergy in the Colony, protesting against the Ordinance as being opposed to "the Catholic doctrine," and at variance with " Catholic principles;" a print copy of this letter, with a few modifications and additions; and, finally, a copy of another letter to the same effect, addressed to you as Administrator of the Government and to the members of the Legislative Council by the same Bishop and clergy.
3. I have given my careful attention to all these documents and to the remarks contained in your despatches, and though I am unable to concur in the views which are held by the Roman Catholic clergy in relation to this measure, I approve of the course you adopted in not bringing the Ordinance into force without further reference to Her Majesty's Government, so as to avoid even the semblance of precipitancy in dealing with so grave and delicate a subject of legislation.
4. Bishop Raimondi and the other members of the Roman Catholic clergy who have joined in these protests, express their determination to submit to any penalties rather than comply with the requirements of this Ordinance; they characterize it as being more unseasonable" and even more " barefaced" than the existing law as regards civil marriages, because it provides a form of warning to be administered by the Registrar to the parties that they become legally married by virtue of the civil contract entered into before him, though no other rite of a civil or religious nature shall take place; and they announce their intention of addressing their congregations on the subject of civil marriages and of holding up the British Government to obloquy as a " promoter of concubinage."
5. The spirit of liberality which happily prevades the legislation of England in matters of religion would fully justify an appeal to Her Majesty's Government against any Colonial law which failed on such a subject as this to bestow on all religious bodies as full a measure of freedom as they enjoy in this country; but I was certainly not prepared to learn that the passing of the Ordinance under consideration had given occasion for a protest by the Roman Catholic clergy of Hong Kong against the Law of Civil Marriages, which has been in force in the Colony since the year 1852.
6. It is unnecessary for me to enter into any discussion of a question which was disposed of in England nearly forty years ago. The Law of Civil Marriage, as you are aware, prevails not only in this country and in India, and throughout Her Majesty's Dominions, but is in force in the principal States of the Continent of Europe, and notably in France and in Italy-the two countries most concerned in the Roman Catholic missions to China. Bishop Raimondi and the members of the Roman Catholic clergy who have signed this protest are mostly French or Italian subjects, bound in their own respective countries by a similar law to that which they now so unreservedly condemn; moreover, their congregations in Hong Kong are almost entirely composed of foreigners like themselves, and I can hardly doubt therefore that, upon further reflection, instead of denouncing the British Govern- ment from the pulpit as they propose to do, they will deem it more consistent with their holy mission to set an example of respect and obedience to the just and liberal laws of the nation under whose protection they are living, and to whose Government they owe a temporary allegiance.
7. Another provision of the Ordinance to which they object on principle, is that which provides for the preliminary inquiry before the Registrar as to the legal competency of the parties to contract the intended marriage, and prohibits its celebration by any Minister of Religion without the production of the Registrar's Certificate, or of a Licence from the Governor. On this point I need only observe that the Roman Catholic Clergy in England are subject in common with other No. 34 of April 13, No. 6; No. 40 of April 21, not printed; No. 41 of April 28, not printed. (131)
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