CO885(2-3) — Page 476

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference —

C.O.88

885

COLONIES.

76

LAWS IN FORCE IN THE COLONIES AS TO TRESPASS,

EASTERN this year. Their price varies from £5 to £25. Government receive nothing whatever as royalty which is, I think, very unwise, as we have an undoubted right to levy a royalty on them.

No. 34.

I beg to propose, therefore, that an Ordinance be passed rendering it penal to catch or shoot elephants without a licence, except when trespassing on cultivation, when the fact shall be reported to the nearest headman, and the tail sent to him to be forwarded to the Kachcheri.

The Government Agent should be empowered to grant licences to sportsmen on the payment of such a fee for the year as Government may direct. I should propose a fee of £1 for this purpose, as it is not this sort of shooting that does harm, but the constant harassing and destroying the females of the herds when they charge in defence of their young ones when first caught.

There is no necessity, as I know from experience, and the clephant catchers admit this, for firing with ball on such occasions, and I particularly desire to see this made penal.

The Government Agent should be empowered to grant a permit to catch elephants at £1 per head, and any catcher shooting an elephant and not reporting it, should pay £5; while if he reports it, he should pay £1.

All elephants caught should be produced at the Kachcheri, before they can be sold to be branded and valued, when one-fourth, deducting the £1 paid previously, should be levied as royalty, and a certificate then given allowing of exportation.

Or, which may be preferred, the Government Agent, as he sees fit, may license certain persons to catch so many elephants, and on their being produced, and sold by auction at the Kachcheri, one-fourth should be taken for the Crown, and the rest be given to the catchers.

The elephants then sold would be branded, and receive certificates.

By either of these means the Government will always have it in its power to obtain these useful animals for its public works at a reasonable cost, instead of, as now, not being able to get them at all.

It should be proclaimed that all animals now in the Island should be registered and numbered at the several Kachcheries free of charge, and that no animal will be allowed to leave the Island after the 1st of January without a certificate.

I have long been contemplating some measure of the sort, but the reckless conduct of the elephant catchers at present calls for immediate remedy.

These men at the same time kill everything they come across, buffaloes especially, and as often kill tame as wild; while by these means they are destroying the wild herds, and preventing their being made use of for keeping up the stock of good animals.

I have, &c.,

The Honourable the Colonial Secretary.

&c.

&c.

ke.

No. 34.

HONGKONG.

(Signed)

J. W. W. BIRCH.

Copy of a DESPATCH from the ADMINISTRATOR of the GOVERNMENT to the EARL of

(No. 90.) MY LORD,

KIMBERLEY.

Government House, Hong Kong, 6th October, 1870.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's Circular Despatch of the 2nd of August, acquainting me that Her Majesty's Government is desirous of obtaining information as to the Laws in force in the Colonies as to Trespass, and also as to the Preservation of Game, and requesting me to furnish copies of any enactments in force in this Colony on these subjects.

In reply, I have the honour to enclose a copy of a full explanatory Report made by the Attorney-General, together with copies of all the Ordinances referred to by him, with exception of Orduance No. 6, of 1845, of which there is no loose copy.

Right Hou. the Earl of Kimberley,

&c.

&c.

&c.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) H. W. WHITFIELD,

Major-General and Lieut.-Governor.

AND ALSO AS TO PRESERVATION OF GAME.

77

EASTERN COLONIES.

Enclosures in No. 34.

Attorney-General's Office, Hong-Kong,

27th September, 1870,

SIR,

I have the honour to transmit the following report upon the Colonial Office Circular of the 2nd August, 1870, which has been referred to me, and in which Her Majesty's Government desire to be furnished with copies of any enactments of the Legislature of HongKong relating to trespass, and to the preservation of game, together with any observations which may be thought necessary to render such enactments intel- ligible.

With regard to both these heads of inquiry, I should premise that the Common Law of England, and such part of its Statute Law as existed on the 5th day of April, 1843, except the Act, and parts of Acts, contained in the Schedule to the 24 & 25 Vict., c. 95, are in force in HongKong, subject to their applicability to the local circumstances of the Colony, or of its inhabitants. [See Ordinances No. 6 of 1845, s. IV.; No. 2 of 1846, s. III; and No. 11 of 1865, s. I.]

The following are the only enactments of the Legislature of this Colony in relation to Trespass.

Section 12 of Ordinance No. 10 of 1844 provides that where any distress shall be made by order of a magistrate for levying any money, the party making the same shall not be deemed a trespasser, on account of any defect or want of form in the proceedings, nor trespasser ab initio on account of any irregularity afterwards committed. But special damages, if any, may be recovered by the person aggrieved.

Section VI. of Ordinance No. 12 of 1856 provides (inter alia) that the trespassing by man or beast upon any land or tenement vested in or under the control of any Public Officer or Department, shall be deemed a nuisance, and punishable on summary convic- tion by a fine not exceeding $100 and not less than $1.7

Section III. of Ordinance No. 11 of 1856 provides that in any action or prosecution for a trespass or injuries committed in respect of iron lamp posts, &c. erected under that Ordinance, the property therein shall be deemed to be vested in the Surveyor- General.

Section 29 of Ordinance No 4 of 1865 extends to this colony, totidem verbis, the provi- sions of Section 31 of the Imperial Act, 24 & 25 Vict., c. 100, as to the setting of any man trap, or other engine, with intent to destroy or inflict grievous harm upon tres- passers.

There are no enactments of the Colonial Legislature for the preservation of game; and, unfortunately, there is scarcely any game at all in the Colony. Latterly the slaughter of small birds by the Portuguese youth, and other foreign residents here, attracted the attention of the Government, and led to the passing of Ordinance No. 1 of 1870, which prohibits the destruction of all wild birds, except birds of game.

A copy of the last-mentioned Ordinance can be furnished to the Secretary of State, but I apprehend that separate copies of the other Ordinances to which I have referred cannot now be obtained, but they will be found in the new edition of the HongKong Ordinances, compiled in pursuance of Ordinance No. 7 of 1864,

Honourable J. Gardiner Austin,

Colonial Secretary.

I have, &c.,

JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE,

Attorney-General.

[True copy.]

(Sigred)

(Signed)

J. GARDINER AUSTIN,

Colonial Secretary.

HONGKONG.

ANNO NONO VICTORE REGINÆ.

No. 2 of 1846.

Enclosured

in No. 34.

AN ORDINANCE to amend the Ordinance No. 6 of 1845, entitled “ An Ordinance to repeal Ordinance No. 15 of 1844, for the establishment of a Supreme Court of Judicature at Hongkong, and to substitute other Provisions in lieu thereof. [6th May, 1846,] 3. And be it further enacted and ordained, that from henceforth such of the laws of England in England only, and such portion of the practice of the English Courts (subject to the force on the

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