CO129-177 - Sir Kennedy Acting Governor Austin Lieut Governor Hennessy - 1877 [1-5] — Page 379

of complaints would probably pass without enquiry or punishment.

British Hongkong is now getting to be very largely populated and, with the increase of local steamers, an increasingly large number of British subjects are constantly resorting to places in China at no great distance from Hongkong.

There are no Provincial Courts in our immediate neighbourhood and I believe not a single officer of any description belonging to the Supreme Court of China and Japan or a Provincial Court within many miles of us. It therefore seems to me desirable that some further provision should be made for dealing with cases such as those under consideration and I would suggest that it would be advisable to extend the Order in Council either by allowing the Magistrate here to take cognizance of cases occurring within a certain distance of Hongkong in Chinese territory and committing for trial at the Supreme Court of China and Japan or to a Provincial Court as the case may be, and binding over the witnesses to appear thereat; or perhaps the better course would be to enable the Supreme Court of Hongkong to take cognizance...

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