PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
سلنسيا
Reference T
C.O. 882
4PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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cases reported; an increase exists of 6:45 on serious crime, and of 23.86 on minor "offences."
6. Accompanying the report of the Captain Superintendent of Police, dated Hong Kong, 31st of January 1877, is the following return of the number of serious cases of crime committed in the Colony in each year since the 1st of January 1874:-
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3. Appending the number of floggings here to the abstract published in the Times, the comparative statement stands thus :—
Number of floggings from April 1871 to July 1876.
Description.
Murder
Robbery with violence from the person
Burglary or larcency in a dwelling house
Assault with intent to rob
Kidnapping
Piracy
Unlawful possession
Larcenies
Felonies not already given
Serious Offences.
Total
Population.
No. of Cases.
1874.
1875,
1876.
England Scotland Ireland Hong Kong
·
4,988
24,000,000
679
3,400,000
34
5,250,000
1,149
140,000
I have, &c. (Signed) J. POPE HENNESSY,
203
802
∞ ១៩ | ២ផ្ទះរ
3
8
4
&c.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon, &c.
Governor.
&c.
13
24
69
107
90
3
1
51
68
55
No. 8.
7
5
5
251
239
938
1,059
16
13
8
1,165
1,395
1,495
7. Thus the number of serious cases in 1874 was 1165; this increased in 1875 to 1395; and again increased in 1876 to 1485. The number of persons convicted of serious crimes rose from 786 in 1874 to 949 in 1875, and to 974 in 1876. This is exclusive of the numbers of persons convicted of minor offences, which amounted to 3,495 in 1874, 3,623 in 1875, and 4,510 in 1876.
8. No doubt, of late years, serious crimes, which had formerly been cognizable only by the Supreme Court, have been brought within the jurisdiction of the two Police Magistrates and withdrawn from Your Honour's immediate notice. The Governor feels, however, that it is proper that Your Honour, as the Head of the Judicial Staff of the Colony and His Excellency's chief adviser in the Legislative Council, should have the real facts brought under your observation.
9. The Governor desires me to add that since his arrival in Hong Kong a few months ago he has been endeavouring to trace the cause of this steady and dangerous increase of crime for the past three years, and with the assistance of the experienced Judges and the able staff of officials that are here His Excellency hopes to check it.
I have, &c. (Signed)
CECIL C. SMITH,
No. 7.
Acting Colonial Secretary.
GOVERNOR HENNESSY, C.M.G., to the EARL OF CARNARVON. (Received
(No. 99.) MY LORD,
October 13, 1877.)
Government House, Hong Kong, August 23, 1877.
1. SEEING in the Times of the 23rd of June an abstract of a parliamentary paper that appears to have been issued last session showing the number of corporal punishments inflicted on prisoners in the United Kingdom from April 1871 to July 1876" inclusive, I caused a similar return to be prepared for your Lordship's information respecting the floggings in this Colony.
2. The number of floggings of criminals in Hong Kong, from April 1871 to July 1876, amounted to 1,149. As some individuals had been sentenced to two or three flogging", the actual number of prisoners flogged was 902.
GOVERNOR HENNESSY, C.M.G., to the EARL OF CARNARVON. (Received October 15, 1877.) (No. 103.) MY LORD,
In connection with my despatch No. 97 of the 22nd August, reporting the increase of crime in Hong Kong for the last ten years, I caused a return to be extracted from the books of the gaol showing the number of floggings, and of prisoners flogged, during the same period.
Government House, Hong Kong, August 30, 1877.
2. I have the honour to lay a copy of this return before your Lordship. It will be seen that the total number of floggings from 1867 to 1876 inclusive, was 1,945.
3. Taking the average for periods of five years, it appears that the annual number of floggings from 1867 to 1871 was 173, and that the annual number from 1872 to 1876 had increased to 215.
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4. The detailed return which I shall do myself the honor of transmitting to your Lordship in another despatch has revealed a faulty system that had existed here. considerable proportion of the floggings had been imposed by the Superintendent of the Gaol under Section XI. of the Ordinance No. 4 of 1869, which empowers him to sentence any prisoner who may be under conviction of felony to moderate corporal punishment not exceeding twelve strokes. On looking through the return I saw that the Superinten- dent had occasionally adopted the practice of giving a prisoner a flogging of 24 strokes in one day by the device of giving him two sentences at the same time.
5. A similar system had been adopted for stretching the law which empowers the Superintendent to imprison, not exceeding three days, any prisoner in a solitary cell on rice and water. Having recently instructed Messrs. Russell and Stewart to inquire into the case of a prisoner named Wong a Po who tried to escape from prison, it appeared that the Acting Superintendent who was then in charge (Mr. Tomlin) had given him seven consecutive days solitary confinement on rice and water by first giving him three days not consecutive and then dovetailing the other days in by means of subsequent sentences. The prisoner endeavoured to palliate the serious crime he committed in attempting to break prison by pointing to the illegal punishment the Acting Superintendent was thus imposing on him.
6. I also found that a few cases had recently occurred in which Mr. Tomlin bad, by his own authority, flogged prisoners who had not been convicted of felony.,
7. It is certainly to be regretted that such practices, though recorded in the prison books, were not exposed by the visiting justices who are supposed to inspect the gaol every week, but that they should be left to be detected by the head of the executive or discovered on some special enquiry,
8. Of course under Captain Ducat's superintendence, and with the instructions I have given him, nothing of the kind is likely to occur again.
I have, &c.
́J. POPE HENNESSY,
The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,
&c.
&c.
(Signed)
&c.
• Not printed.
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Governor.