76
SIR,
EXTRACTS FROM DESPATCHES OF GOVERNOR SIR J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, BT., M.P.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 29th April, 1879.
In considering the policy of getting rid of old offenders by deporting them to other parts of the world, I have been unable to approve of a system which existed in Hongkong before my arrival. "I refer to that which is described by the Police Officers in their evidence at the recent Commission. At 37 of the evidence, the Captain Superintendent of Police mentions the fact that some of the deported men go to Australia: and at page 77, Mr. GRIMES, the Inspector who had charge of the harbour, said he saw as many as fifty deported men, some being old offenders, shipped off in Emigrant Ships in 1876 to Queensland.
Page 66
"I have, &c.,
"J. POPE HENNESSY."
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 18th May, 1880.
"In paragraph 5 of your Despatch, you express a doubt as to whether I can be right in saying that some of the deported Chinese criminals were shipped off from Hongkong by the Police Authorities to the Australian Colonies, and you seem rather to think that the deported criminals were men who had returned to Hongkong for the purpose of emigration, and that under such circumstances, though they were seen by the Police Constables the latter did not interfere with them.
What I reported in my despatch was, however, a correct statement of the facts.
"The question of remitting one-half or two-thirds of the sentences of Chinese criminals under Conditional Pardons, by which they agreed to quit the Colony, had attracted my attention soon after I assumed this Government (April 1877), and from time to time, both in the Legislative Council and in despatches to the Secretary of State, I pointed out its impolicy. It seemed to me to be inconsistent with a proper administration of justice and with a strict system of prison discipline. I also felt that it was not quite fair to our neighbours in Australia or in the Straits Settlements. The following is a copy of a minute by Mr. DEANE, the Captain Superintendent of Police, on the subject:
MINUTE BY THE CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE.
I have the honour to report that on deportation, or receipt of a Conditional Pardon, the ex-prisoner was allowed to go where he pleased, and that if he selected Australia, Singapore, Shanghai or the Coast Ports, he was seen on board the vessel bound thereto by a Constable.
If a man who had been deported had returned to the Colony for the purpose of emigration and had been seen by a Constable, it would have been the duty of that Constable to have arrested him, and I think he would have done so, for there was a standing reward of $5 for the arrest of such a man;
22nd October, 1879.*
(Signed) W. M. DEANE,
Captain Superintendent of Police.
"That a Chinese criminal who had served only one-half or one-third of his sentence, was, on receipt of the Governor's Conditional Pardon, allowed to select, with the exception of any part of Hongkong, the country where he desired to live, and that when he selected an Australian Colony, he was then seen safely on board a vessel bound to Australia by a policeman, was a system of rather modern growth in Hongkong. I cannot find any record of its being reported to Her Majesty's Government. It sprang up after the departure of Governor Sir HERCULES ROBINSON.
"I feel confident you will not disapprove of my having taken the responsibility of putting a stop to this system, and of having taken the responsibility also of not sanctioning, since my assumption of this Government, a single case of branding.
In accordance with your instructions, I enclose a copy of Chief Justice Sir JOHN SMALE's judgment on the invalidity of certain Deportation Warrants; and I take the opportunity at the same time of laying before you the concluding passages in a statement I had occasion to make in the Legislative Council on the 6th of November, 1879, in which I referred to the Chief Justice's sound views on this subject, the assistance I have always received from him in dealing with deportation cases, and to the political consequences outside this Colony of transferring half-punished criminals to other countries.
On this latter point, I also enclose an extract from a report of some observations I made in Council, on the 22nd of November, on the effect of our Deportation and Conditional Pardon system upon Chinese Emigration to Australia. Though some evidence was obtained by Mr. Max's Committee on Police and crime that as many as fifty old criminals were seen off from Hongkong to Australia by the Police in the year 1876 and early in 1877, I 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 Hongkong and created the comparatively large criminal class that I found here:
"In 1866," says the Chief Justice, "the Executive, in order to avoid the expenses of a second gaol, gave Conditional Pardons, without reference to myself as Chief Justice, to hundreds of prisoners after having served very short portions of their sentences, the condition being that they should leave the Colony, and this practice was followed subsequently. Most of these men 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."
"No doubt, the repeated representations I ventured to address to Lord CARNARVON in 1877 against the Conditional Pardon and Deportation system, were mainly based on the clear evidence I had obtained that, however well-intended or admirable in theory, it was a bad system, inconsistent with prison discipline, and that instead of checking crime it fostered and enlarged a criminal class on our Kowloong frontier and even within the Colony; but I was not insensible either to the sound general principles His Lordship had laid down on this subject in addressing the Governor of New South Wales in October 1874 in certain despatches, copies of which had been transmitted to my predecessor in 1875, and in which the Secretary of State had said:
The effect upon neighbouring Colonies, the Empire generally, or foreign countries, of letting loose a highly criminal or dangerous felon to reside in any part of the world except only that principally concerned to take charge of him, was a step which might clearly and not unreasonably give rise to complaints from without the Colony.
To release a criminal upon the condition that he should inflict himself either upon other Colonies and foreign countries or upon this country, was altogether in opposition to the theory now generally adopted.
"I am happy to say that, as the Chief Justice points out in his Report, Chinese criminals can be effectually dealt with in Hongkong without having recourse to this dangerous expedient.
"I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY."
Extract from the "Daily Press" of 24th November, 1879.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, HONGKONG.
A meeting of the Legislative Council was held on 22nd November, 1879.
There were present:
His Excellency the Governor, J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G.
Honourable SIR JOHN SMALE, Chief Justice.
Honourable W. H. Mansu, Colonial Secretary.
Honourable J. RUSSELL, Acting Attorney General.
Honourable M. S. TONNOCHY, Acting Colonial Treasurer,
Honourable P. RYRIE.
Honourable W. Keswick.
On the "Chinese Emigration Ordinance Amendment Bill," His Excellency the Governor said:
Now, there was another proposed emigration about which I refused to issue my license, and that was the emigration of skilled artizans to Sydney and other parts of Australia, which Messrs. STEVENS & Co. put before me. Some members of my Executive Council appeared to think favourably of this scheme, and we had a good deal of discussion on the subject, but I adhered to the opinion which, on looking at the papers, I had originally formed, that I should not relax in any way the rules of this Colony with respect to contract emigration with the object of facilitating the traffic which Messrs. STEVENS & Co. had in view. The idea of sending to Sydney or other parts of Australia a number of skilled Chinese artizans from Hongkong, would, it was pointed out to me, benefit considerably those Chinese who should be so taken, but I had to look to other considerations. I had to consider how far it was desirable for the Governor of this Colony to do anything in the way of relaxing the strict letter of the law so as to facilitate the emigration into Australia of Chinese workmen or labourers, at the very time when it seemed to me that the Governments of Australia were more or less embarrassed by
Dec.
76
SIR,
*
EXTRACTS FROM DESPATCHES OF GOVERNOR SIR J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, BT., M.P.
*
*
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 29th April, 1879.
In considering the policy of getting rid of old offenders by deporting them to other parts of th world, I have been unable to approve of a system which existed in Hongkong before my arriva "I refer to that which is described by the Police Officers in their evidence at the recent Commission FL At 37 of the evidence, the Captain Superintendent of Police mentions the fact that some of th
page "deported men go to Australia: and at page 77, Mr. GRIMES, the Inspector who had charge of th "harbour, said he saw as many as fifty deported men, some being old offenders, shipped off in Emi
'grant Ships in 1876 to Queensland.
SIR.
66
*
"I have, &c.,
"J. POPE HENNESSY."
GOVERNMENT House, HONGKONG, 18th May, 1880.
"In paragraph 5 of your Despatch, you express a doubt as to whether I can be right in saying the some of the deported Chinese criminals were shipped off from Hongkong by the Police Authoritie "to the Australian Colonies, and you seem rather to think that the deported criminals were men wh "had returned to Hongkong for the purpose of emigration, and that under such circumstances, thoug "they were seen by the Police Constables the latter did not interfere with them.
What I reported in my despatch was, however, a correct statement of the facts.
"
"The question of remitting one-half or two-thirds of the sentences of Chinese criminals und "Conditional Pardons, by which they agreed to quit the Colony, had attracted my attention soon after "I assumed this Government (April 1877), and from time to time, both in the Legislative Council "and in despatches to the Secretary of State, I pointed out its impolicy. It seemed to me to be in "consistent with a proper administration of justice and with a strict system of prison discipline. "also felt that it was not quite fair to our neighbours in Australia or in the Straits Settlements. Th "following is a copy of a niinute by Mr. DEANE, the Captain Superintendent of Police, on the subject:--|
4
* MINUTE BY THE CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE.
I have the honour to report that on deportation, or receipt of a Conditional Pardon, the ex-pri soner was allowed to go where he pleased, and that if he selected Australia, Singapore, Shanghai or 'the Coast Ports, he was seen on board the vessel bound thereto by a Constable.
44
If a man who had been deported had returned to the Colony for the purpose of emigration and had been seen by a Constable, it would have been the duty of that Constable to have arrested him. and I think he would have done so, for there was a standing reward of $5 for the arrest of suchi I can recall no case where it has been made known to me that a deported man had been seen on board a vessel and allowed to leave unarrested, because he was emigrating.
man;
22nd October, 1879.*
(Signed) W. M. DEANE,
any
Captain Superintendent of Police.
"That a Chinese criminal who had served only one-half or one-third of his sentence, was, receipt of the Governor's Conditional Pardon, allowed to select, with the exception of any part of Hongkong, the country where he desired to live, and that when he selected an Australian Colony, he "was then seen safely on board a vessel bound to Australia by a policeman, was a system of rathe "modern growth in Hongkong. I cannot find any record of its being reported to Her Majesty's "Government. It sprang up after the departure of Governor Sir HERCULES ROBINSON.
"I feel confident you will not disapprove of may having taken the responsibility of putting a stop "to this system, and of having taken the responsibility also of not sanctioning, since my assumption "of this Government, a single case of branding.
In accordance with your instructions, I enclose a copy of Chief Justice Sir JOHN SMALE's judg "ment on the invalidity of certain Deportation Warrants; and I take the opportunity at the same time of laying before you the concluding passages in a statement I had occasion to make in the Legislative "Council on the 6th of November, 1879, in which I referred to the Chief Justice's sound views on this subject, the assistance I have always received from him in dealing with deportation cases, and to the 'political consequences outside this Colony of transferring half punished criminals to other countries.
(6
On this latter point, I also enclose an extract from a report of sonic observations I made in Council, on the 22nd of November, on the effect of our Deportation and Conditional Pardon system upon Chinese Emigration to Australia. Though some evidence was obtained by Mr. Max's Com- "mittee on Police and crime that as many as fifty old criminals were seen off from Hongkong to "Australia by the Police in the year 1876 and early in 1877, I 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 Hongkong and created the comparatively large criminal class that I found here:---
{
gave
In 1866,' says the Chief Justice, the Executive, in order to avoid the expenses of a second gaol, Conditional Pardons, without reference to myself as Chief Justice, to hundreds of prisoners after having served very short portions of their sentences, the condition being that they should leave the 'Colony, and this practice was followed subsequently. Most of these men 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.'
"No doubt, the repeated representations I ventured to address to Lord CARNARVON in 1877 against. "the Conditional Pardon and Deportation system, were mainly based on the clear evidence I had "obtamed that, however well intended or admirable in theory, it was a bad system, inconsistent with "prison discipline, and that instead of checking crime it fostered and enlarged a criminal class on our "Kowloong frontier and even within the Colony; but I was not insensible either to the sound general "principles His Lordship had laid down on this subject in addressing the Governor of New South "Wales in October 1874 iu certain despatches, copies of which had been transmitted to my predecessor "in 1875, and in which the Secretary of State had said :---
The effect upon neighbouring Colonies, the Empire generally, or foreign countries, of letting loose a highly criminal or dangerous felon to reside in any part of the world except only that principally 'concerned to take charge of him, was a step which might clearly and not unreasonably give rise to
complaints from without the Colony.
To release a criminal upon the condition that he should inflict himself either upon other Colonies and foreign countries or upon this country, was 'altogether in opposition to the theory now generally adopted.
*
*
"I am happy to say that, as the Chief Justice points out in his Report, Chinese criminals can be "effectually dealt with in Hongkong without having recourse to this dangerous expedient.
"I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY."
Extract from the "Daily Press" of 24th November, 1879. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, HONGKONG.
A meeting of the Legislative Council was held on 22nd November, 1879.
His Excellency the Governor, J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G.
Honourable SIR JOHN SMALE, Chief Justice.
Honourable W. H. Mansu, Colonial Secretary.
Honourable J. RUSSELL, Acting Attorney General.
Honourable M. S. TONNOCHY, Acting Colonial Treasurer, Honourable P. RYRIE.
Honourable W. Keswick.
There were present :---
On the "Chinese Emigration Ordinance Amendinent Bill," His Excellency the Governor said :- Now, there was another proposed emigration about which I refused to issue my license, and that was the emigration of skilled artizans to Sydney and other parts of Australia, which Messrs. STEVENS & Co.
put before me. Some members of my Executive Council appeared to think favourably of this scheme, and we had a good deal of discussion on the subject, but I adhered to the opinion which, on looking at the papers, I had originally formed, that I should not relax in any way the rules of this Colony with respect to contract emigration with the object of facilitating the traffic which Messrs. STEVENS & Co. had in view. The idea of sending to Sydney or other parts of Australia a number of skilled Chinese artizans from Hongkong, would, it was pointed out to me, benefit considerably those Chinese who should be so taken, but I had to look to other considerations. I had to consider how far it was desirable for the Governor of this Colony to do anything in the way of relaxing the strict letter of the law so as to facilitate the emigration into Australia of Chinese workmen or labourers, at the very time when it seemed to me that the Governments of Australia were more or less embarrassed by
Dec.
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