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478
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HENRY ERNEST WODEHOUSE, Sworn, states:---I am Acting Registrar General, and have held that office since the beginning of July. I had knowledge of 288, Queen's Road Central, as a suspected unlicensed Brothel. I had issued instructions to Inspector WHITEHEAD to take steps to obtain such proof of the house being an unlicensed brothel as would secure a conviction. I bad got a report from outside sources about this house. I had reason to suspect the house. I cannot say if I had given any instructions in reference to No. 9, Lyndhurst Terrace, at any time. It may have been reported to
but I have no recollection. I do not know anything about 42, Peel Street.
me,
Since I have been in the office, there has been no fresh order issued as to the duties of the Inspectors with reference to the entry of suspected unlicensed brothels. The practice is for the Chief Inspector, WHITEHEAD, to report to the office what houses are suspected of being unlicensed brothels, and there is an instruction then given to get evidence. The practice is to make a report of the suspicious houses, and then I say-"You can try and get evidence."
I would consider that, from what I know of the working of the office, the Inspector might consider himself at liberty to enter a suspected unlicensed brothel without previous authority from the Registrar General.
At the suggestion of Inspector LEE.-In August last when Inspector WHITEHEAD was ill I entered three houses and obtained convictions against two of them for being unlicensed brothels, can you remember if I reported before or after the arrest? I cannot recollect for certain, but I should think it quite possible that he only reported them to me after the arrest, but it may have been reported to me on a previous occasion that these houses were unlicensed, as I don't recollect the particular houses.
To Mr. JACK, foreman. Is there no record kept in the office of the houses which the Inspector reports as suspected houses before entering? Answer--No.
Is the Inspector then at liberty to enter any house at his own discretion without a previous authority from the Head of the Department? Answer-From the practice of the office great discretion has been left in the Inspector's hands.
H. E. WODEHOUSE.
(9)
I
TA-YAU ran up the ladder first. Her servant followed. I went third. A-NAM followed me. I wanted to go down the next house. A-NAM said "No." He would not allow me.
I seized him, and got down. He went down the hatch before me (of the house 44). I don't know where A-NAM Cent. I ran to the street. I believe A-NAM ran to the street. There was a man followed me besides A-NAM. Somebody seized me as I went through the hatch. I had never been on the roof before. followed TAI-YAU and the others. I thought they had run down the hatch. I did not see them fall. I did not know if ever the other women were on the roof. TAI-YAU and the servant went on their knees to the man, and TAI-YAU said "You have come here to arrest unlicensed brothel people. I was arrested last year, and I ask for
you
The man said "I don't know, I don't to overlook this.' mercy know."
Her LAU-A-YEE.
Mark.
Further inquiry adjourned till the 29th October, at 4 P.M., at Magistracy. Jurors put under usual recognizance.
J. RUSSELL. Coroner.
29th October, 1877.
Jurors answer to their names. Resumed at the Magistracy, at 4 F.M. Inspector LEE wishes to explain that in 1875, the same floor had been entered and that the house had been declared an unlicensed brothel,-that he had knowledge of that, and that he thinks he said that he had no previous knowledge of the house. A reference to the depositions does not shew that he so stated.
At 5.30 P.M., Court cleared,—and Jury consult as to their verdict. Jury find a special verdict.
JOHN LEE. After an hour's consultation,
1
d
J. RUSSELL.
The above informations were duly taken and subscribed before me, on the days and year before written.
J. RUSSELL, Coroner.
herein-
WILLIAM FOULES WHITEHEAD, sworn, states:-I am Chief Inspector of Brothels. Since I have been in the Department it has been a matter of practice for any of the Inspectors to use his discretion as to entering any house which may be suspected as being an unlicensed brothel. I have been in the Department since 3rd March, 1874. I had reported No. 9, Lyndhurst. Terrace, to the Acting Registrar General, and had been told to enter some considerable time before I did enter. I would have consi- dered myself justified in entering whether I had had a previous authority or not.
Has there ever been any exception taken to your entering a house without the previous authority of the Registrar General?
None by the Registrar General nor by any body else. The practice has been existing since I went to the Office. The practice is, as stated by Mr. WODEHOUSE, of my making a general report and getting orders to obtain evidence to secure a conviction.
To the Foreman:-Is it the practice for you to provide money through your Interpreter for outside men to treat the women on purpose to procure a conviction against them? Yes, it is. It (the money) is provided from the secret service fund.
W. F. WHITEHEAD.
LAU-A-YEE, declared, states :-I rent the top floor of No. 42. I have been there on the 1st of the month. I rented a room to TAI-YAU on the 15th instant. She had a servant with her. She was called A-S6. She was between 40 and 50 of
years
I recollect the night of the 16th instant, age. about 11 o'clock, I saw TAI-YAU in the house. I heard a man called A-NAM call her to go out. She went out. She came back about 12 o'clock. I don't know who opened the door. A man came back with her, and so did A-NAM. He was a friend of TAI-YAU's. I was worshipping. The man sat down on a chair. I asked TAI-YAU what the man was doing there. She said "Oh, he is a shopman and is my husband." I heard them knock at the door. I did not know whether the people wanted to get into the first floor or to us. I asked TAI-YAU again who is this? She again said her husband, Then I heard the Inspector. I said to the man"The Inspector is coming looking for you is he?" and he said "Yes." Then TAI-YAU said he is coming to arrest women for keeping an unlicensed brothel. Come along with me and run away.
See Inquisition. See also Inquisition in case of MOK-TAI-YAU, No. 63.
An Inquisition indented taken for our Sovereign Lady THE QUEEN, at the House known as The Magistracy, situate in Victoria, in the Colony of Hongkong, on the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the Year of our Lord One thousand Eight hundred and Seventy-seven, before JAMES RUSSELL, Esquire, Gentleman, the Coroner of our said Lady THE QUEEN, for the said Colony, on view of the Body of FUNG-A-SZ or A-SAU, then and there lying dead, upon the Oath of JOHN JACK, ROBERT FRASER-SMITH, CONRAD HERMANN BLUHM, good and lawful Men of the said Colony, duly chosen, and who, being then and there duly sworn, and charged to inquire for our said Lady THE QUEEN, when, how, and by what means the said FUNG-A-Sz, alias A-SAU, came to her Death, do upon their Oaths say, That the said FUNG-A-Sz, alias A-SAU, on the morning of the Seventeenth of October, in the Year aforesaid, being on the roof of a house known as 44, Peel Street, Victoria, and having fled there in consequence of the entry of an Inspector of Brothels into the house known as 42, Peel Street, where she lived, accidentally and by misfortune fell down an open area known as a smoke-hole, unto the granite pave- ment beneath, and by means thereof did receive mortal bruises, fractures and contusions, of which she then instantly died; and so the Jurors aforesaid, upon their Oath aforesaid, do say, that the said FUNG-A-SZ, alias A-SAU, in manner aforesaid, accidentally, casually and by misfortune came to her death and not otherwise.
The Jury aforesaid are further of opinion that Inspector LEs, the aforesaid Inspector of Brothels, exceeded his powers by entering the house No. 42, Peel Street, without a Warrant or any direct authority from the Registrar General or Superintendent of Police, and would strongly recommend that the whole system of obtaining convictions against keepers of unlicensed brothels be thoroughly revised, as the present practice is, in their opinion, both illegal and immoral.
In witness whereof, the said Coroner as well as the Jurors aforesaid, have hereunto set and
subscribed their hands and seals, on the year and day first above written.
[1..S.]
J. RUSSELL,
Coroner.
JOHN JACK,
Foreman.
R. FRASER-SMITH.
中午
C. H. BLUнM.
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