CO129-188 - Governor Hennessy - 1880 [5-6] — Page 67

20

(

to Australia. Though

some evidence

was

obtained by Mr May's Committee

Police and brime that as

old criminals were seen

on-

many as fifty

off from

Hongkong to Australia by the Police

the

Land early in 1877

year 18769

-----

in

am inclined to think

that but a small proportion of the

Chinese Criminals liberated on

Conditional Pardons were

actually put

on board the Australian steamers by the Police; I believe the following statement of the Chief Justice in his Report of the 19th of April 1880 is correct, in which he says that most of these criminals returned to Konghong and created the comparatively large criminal class that I found here :-

勤

64

"In 1866" says the Chief Justice the "Executive in order to avoid the

21

expenses of a second gaol gave

without reference.

conditional

pardons,

to myself as Chief Justice, to hundreds

of prisoners after having served very

short portions of their sentences, the

condition

the Colony

کر گیا

being

that they should leave and this practice

vas

followed subsequently, olbost of these

#

#

mien

returned to the

Colony

and to

that I attribute the formation of

"

an

enlarged criminal community from

which the Colony has never since 'been freed!

14.

No doubt the repeated.

representations I ventured to address to