115
可惜香港則例雖與以利沙伯極嚴之律四生之任須英其互京死相按贊助斷有貧端雖人引院帶等兩外巡理府署督部堂署俱有濟貧之項而竟不懞英京按察使巡理府均未有法辨別窮窘之人堪賙濟與否故確有因强使國家周濟遠人况驎大莫赤子而可不任其死於餞有一切要之理在其間卽照律例而言舉國中司伊連波大人定奪仁愛之道按英例所定必須互相輔助貧人雖兩國律例不同若此而兩國濟人則例俱屬英赤子者亦不少故以各官安樂而言可云幸矣獨不思則例增有頒行貧人則例之局以方便稽查管理或當衆或近衆之處如此可罰銀二十贈各業會居多要之本港所有窮窘之華人而在香港生長爲英國貧人則例之基址按一千八百三十四年人冀動人憐者若在香港内通衢大道該項支消似乎樻多少意者或因督憲用此濟貧之項壯健者欲蒙照顧則必作工此二者歷三百年來乞者或將身體所有瘡瘍軟弱殘壞示可云該濟貧之項雖則爲數無多而照窮窘之華人而論則之維繫二卽肢體殘壞者不用作工可蒙施濟而內第二款第十七節有如此云凡有行其餘則有度支局每歲備督憲濟貧之項惟督憲與十三年所定之例雖烈又大英本土於一千八百例间是一般猛烈而亦未嘗稍備助邮異常之人及巧於欺瞞之無賴子外實無在彼討得錢文者二國家向用待貧人法以利沙伯三十九年及四內貧人院外兩法埃蘭國則專在貧人院内濟乃條則例因衙署頒行事款認貧人有禁止引帶等情而大英本土則合用古昔貧人院五圓又查一千八百五十六年第十四英國律例自以利沙伯皇后迄今有合人情道理查一千八百四十五年第十四條財镧三十四年所立貧人則例大意雖有攔阻之意而肢體殘壞者無怙無恃者患癲病狂者狂者稚助伯極嚴邮之有貧頒人行則照肢以例顧體利則殘沙人必壤伯者皇國例第十歎內定云此則例論及錢債衙門各案所有餉銀費有之餉銀費定云此頒行權用則事及免等例欸情論認百處五十 六債衙有十二權權用等情斷不得阻斷不得使一人無以度活者滯窮人用其所有之權及免捐餉銀費
Al-able to tell a specially plausible story, get a dole. There is further a Charitable Allowance Fund annually included in the Estimates and under the control of the Governor. But as neither Magistrates nor His Excellency the Governor have or can have any means at hand to discrimi-nate between the deserving and the undeserving indigent, there is grave reason to believe that even these very limited funds do more harm than good, as far as Chinese destitutes are concerned, and for this reason no doubt the Governor's Cha-ritable Allowance Fund is mostly used for the charitable institutions of the Missionaries. though many of the Chinese destitutes in the ony were born here and are consequently British subjects, they have, happily for the peace of the Government, no notion of the existence of the Poor Box at the Magistracy or of the Governor's Charitable Allowance Fund, nor have they any idea that, as Lord ELLENBOROUGH (see 4 East's Reports, 108) has established, the law of humanity, to which English Common Law must be assumed to conform, puts the Govern-ment under obligation to afford relief even to aliens and therefore à fortiori to British subjects to save them from starvation,
2.--The way in which the Government hitherto dealt with destitution.
Barbaric, as some of the provisions of the Elizabethan Acts (39th and 43rd) were, and deterrent as the leading principle of the English Poor Law Act of 1834 is, the law of England, from Queen ELIZABETH to the present day, rested on the two humane and rational principles, viz.: relief to the disabled without work and relief to the able-bodied in return for work. To these old pillars on which the Poor Law of England rested for the last three centuries, the Act of 1834 added the establishment of a powerful Poor Law Execu-tive, for purposes of inquiry and control, prohibi-tion and direction. Whether outdoor relief is combined with the old work-house system as in England, or excluded in favour of the work-house test as in Ireland, the one leading idea of the English and Irish Poor Law is that no one in the country can by law remain destitute of the actual ̧ necessaries of life.
The local laws of this Colony, I regret to say, approach in barbarity the severest provisions of the Elisabethan Acts whilst making no provision whatever for relief even to the disabled, orphans or lunatics. Ordinance No. 14 of 1845, Section 11、17 says, every person who shall beg, or expose any sore or infirmity to view, for the purpose of exciting compassion and obtaining almis,.. shall be liable to a penalty not exceed-ing five Pounds," provided this offence is com-mitted in any thoroughfare, or public place or adjacent thereto, within the Colony of Hongkong. Ordinance No. 14 of 1856, recognizes, in a certain legal sense at least, the "rights of paupers" by making provision in Section X, that nothing contained in this Ordinance (regarding fees and costs in Equity suits) shall prejudice paupers in respect of their right of proceeding without fee or
往而後已之候則較難故登門行乞但幸平時處堪眠懽嚴冬婦女終日手執京詞▲夜之際山間到之窮窘西洋人每有人之術以安理無賴之流不港縱窘華人亦可分數等首即生長乞人家以托鉢闔港十四萬衆較之尙幸可沿門爲生涯者如瘋疾人化子恆以襤褸形容殘缺肢體爲法或討簞食或乞云爲數無幾蓋國家未嘗設輩不大著以致在澳門香港生長致中華窮窘之人國去家當預備有方黎庶螅無妥理之法故罔克||大公仁以上各等窮窘之華人若以之甚行西苦乞洋人但手耳幸或拐商失人敢内日備饔飧夜濟貧會西洋人所宿而在牢房之輩急需又有聖保祿備牀笫如是者立之妥理濟貧會以身弱莫能傭工舉目無親意欲旋郛而苦乏盤川跬步推舉者或有女流兒女成店專條遣徍鮮薅收留者致往尋工晚歸歇堂濟貧之項備濟若之手衆憫而助之遺往東華醫院棲止义有狂病之人醫院外無安身所者或失醫院爲安居之所故彼巓連客蓋在彼者日賙濟者賴有他們教失職爱起而預其事次郎異省人及有流離失所者又有被拐後蒙救脫拐人總理等又畏無籟之徒藉据房而作不謝之窮窘之西洋人堪蒙其後頻喚金沙小子輩如此作爲而愛母則從旁窺伺慮有巡差見而蠲醒罔敢狂院惟賴有東華醫院而該不得已厠身牢倘不甚苦人耳所有錢文如斯以日若輩每使兒女奔走於中環大道見有西人初入者即追隨有貧人院與及醫院亦無癲行因丈夫長別離或遠遊無耗以致饔殮莫給者如此之人因按察衙門邇來所在巡理府署所有濟貧之費怙恃者或中途盤川不給者三郎凡有事遭意外或擾於病魔或困於煙癖以致之輩非藉名望之人殷實之
直待彼離港是遊事定侍婢案情恐遭追究是以莫敢將女鬻爲待婢將子鬻作螟蛉於身煙所脫原非厚是以除格外艱苦之者
the hillside or anywhere, but in winter they generally prefer to accept sulkily the hospitality of the gaol where two meals a day and a bed at night are furnished to them, provided they turn in early in the evening and look out in day timel for employment, which eventually takes them away from the Colony.
As to Macao or Hongkong born Portuguese destitutes, there are always women going about with begging petitions at all hours of the day, calling at private houses, but generally not im-portunate. Deserving Portuguese poor have, however, their ecclesiastical charities to provide for their direst wants, and there is also a Society of St. Vincent de Paul which is a sort of Portuguese Charity Organization Society for the poor in the Colony.
As to Chinese destitutes there is no provision made by Government, nor by private organization, for dealing with Chinese forms of destitution in a systematic and at the same time humane and rational manner. Chinese destitution, as seen in Hongkong, consists in the first instance of hereditary and professional mendicants, viz., lepers and professional beggars, who use personal rag-gedness and physical debility or deformity as a means to gain a livelihood by begging for food and base cash. They frequently also employ children who dog the steps of strangers, espe-cially in Queen's Road Central, clamouring for "kumsha," whilst they themselves keep a lookout to give timely warning in the rare case of a Constable awaking to his duty of interfering in the matter.
A second class of Chinese destitutes consists of strangers, waifs and strays cast on the community by kidumppers who have been interfered with by the Police and who are then lodged at the Tung-wá Hospital, or of lunatics for whom also there is no other refuge but the Tung-wá Hospital, or of stray orphans, or travellers left penniless en route. A third class of Chinese destitutes consists of men disabled by accident, illness or excessive opium smoking, who have no friends here and no money to return to their ancestral homes, or of women with a larger number of children than they can, in the absence or through the desertion of their husbands, sup-port. and who, especially since the Chief Justice's late judgment on the subject of domestic servitude, are prevented by fear of prosecution disposing of their children for legitimate domestic purposes by arrangement with other families.
For all these Chinese destitutes, who, in pro-portion to a population of over 140,000 Chinese in the Colony, happily form but a comparatively small number, there is neither poor-house uor dispensary nor hospital, nor even lunatic asylum, provided by the Government. There is indeed the Tung-wá Hospital, but the Committee are so afraid of being burdened with permanent pauper patients, that no poor are admitted into the Hos-pital without recommendation on the part of influential subscribers. There is also a Poor Box of very limited means at the Magistracy, but none but cases of extraordinary misery, or paupers
115
可惜香港則例雖與以利沙伯極嚴之
律四
生之
任須英
其互京
死相按
贊助
斷有貧
端雖人
引
院帶
等
兩
外
巡理府署督部堂署俱有濟貧之項而竟不懞英京按察使
巡理府均未有法辨別窮窘之人堪賙濟與否故確有因 强使國家周濟遠人况驎大莫赤子而可不任其死於餞 有一切要之理在其間卽照律例而言舉國中 司伊連波大人定奪仁愛之道按英例所定必須互相輔助 貧人雖兩國律例不同若此而兩國濟人則例俱 屬英赤子者亦不少故以各官安樂而言可云幸矣獨不思 則例增有頒行貧人則例之局以方便稽查管理 或當衆或近衆之處如此可罰銀二十 贈各業會居多要之本港所有窮窘之華人而在香港生長 爲英國貧人則例之基址按一千八百三十四年 人冀動人憐者若在香港内通衢大道 該項支消似乎樻多少意者或因 督憲用此濟貧之項 壯健者欲蒙照顧則必作工此二者歷三百年來 乞者或將身體所有瘡瘍軟弱殘壞示 可云該濟貧之項雖則爲數無多而照窮窘之華人而論則 之維繫二卽肢體殘壞者不用作工可蒙施濟而內第二款第十七節有如此云凡有行 其餘則有度支局每歲備 督憲濟貧之項惟 督憲與 十三年所定之例雖烈又大英本土於一千八百 例间是一般猛烈而亦未嘗稍備助邮 異常之人及巧於欺瞞之無賴子外實無在彼討得錢文者 二國家向用待貧人法以利沙伯三十九年及四 內貧人院外兩法埃蘭國則專在貧人院内濟乃 條則例因衙署頒行事款認貧人有 禁止引帶等情而大英本土則合用古昔貧人院 五圓又查一千八百五十六年第十四 英國律例自以利沙伯皇后迄今有合人情道理 查一千八百四十五年第十四條財镧 三十四年所立貧人則例大意雖有攔阻之意而 肢體殘壞者無怙無恃者患癲病狂者
狂
者
稚
助
伯
極
嚴
邮之
有貧
頒人
行則照肢以
例顧體利
則殘
沙人
必壤伯
作
者
皇
國例
第十歎內定云此則例論及錢債衙
門各案所有餉銀費
有
之
餉
銀
費
定
云
此
頒
行
權用則事
及
免
等例欸
情
論
認
百處
五
十
六
債
衙
有十二
權
權
用
等情斷不得阻
斷不得使一人無以度活者
滯窮人用其所有之權及免捐餉銀費
Al-
able to tell a specially plausible story, get a dole. There is further a Charitable Allowance Fund annually included in the Estimates and under the control of the Governor. But as neither Magistrates nor His Excellency the Governor have or can have any means at hand to discrimi- nate between the deserving and the undeserving indigent, there is grave reason to believe that even these very limited funds do more harm than good, as far as Chinese destitutes are concerned, and for this reason no doubt the Governor's Cha- ritable Allowance Fund is mostly used for the charitable institutions of the Missionaries. though many of the Chinese destitutes in the ony were born here and are consequently British subjects, they have, happily for the peace of the Government, no notion of the existence of the Poor Box at the Magistracy or of the Governor's Charitable Allowance Fund, nor have they any idea that, as Lord ELLENBOROUGH (see 4 East's Reports, 108) has established, the law of humanity, to which English Common Law must be assumed to conform, puts the Govern. ment under obligation to afford relief even to aliens and therefore à fortiori to British subjects
to save them from starvation,
2.--The way in which the Government hitherto dealt with destitution.
Barbaric, as some of the provisions of the Elizabethan Acts (39th and 43rd) were, and deterrent as the leading principle of the English
Poor Law Act of 1834 is, the law of England, from Queen ELIZABETH to the present day, rested on the two humane and rational principles, viz.: relief to the disabled without work and relief to the able-bodied in return for work. To these old
pillars on which the Poor Law of England rested
for the last three centuries, the Act of 1834 added the establishment of a powerful Poor Law Execu- tive, for purposes of inquiry and control, prohibi- tion and direction. Whether outdoor relief is combined with the old work-house system as in
England, or excluded in favour of the work-house
test as in Ireland, the one leading idea of the English and Irish Poor Law is that no one in the country can by law remain destitute of the actual ̧ necessaries of life.
The local laws of this Colony, I regret to say, approach in barbarity the severest provisions of the Elisabethan Acts whilst making no provision whatever for relief even to the disabled, orphans or lunatics. Ordinance No. 14 of 1845, Section 11、17 says,
every person who shall beg, or
expose any sore or infirmity to view, for the purpose of exciting compassion and obtaining almis,. .. shall be liable to a penalty not exceed- ing five Pounds," provided this offence is com- mitted in any thoroughfare, or public place or adjacent thereto, within the Colony of Hongkong.
Ordinance No. 14 of 1856, recognizes, in a certain legal sense at least, the "rights of paupers" by making provision in Section X, that nothing contained in this Ordinance (regarding fees and costs in Equity suits) shall prejudice paupers in respect of their right of proceeding without fee or
往而後已
之候則較難故 登門行乞但幸平時 處堪眠懽嚴冬 婦女終日手執京詞 ▲夜之際山間到 之窮窘西洋人每有人之術以安理無賴之流不港縱窘華人亦可分數等首即生長乞人家以托砵 闔港十四萬衆較之尙幸可 沿門爲生涯者如瘋疾人化子恆以襤褸形容殘缺肢體爲法或討簞食或乞 云爲數無幾蓋國家未嘗設
輩不大著以 致在澳門香港生長 致中華窮窘之人國去家當預備有方黎庶螅無妥理之法故罔克||大公仁 以上各等窮窘之華人若以
之甚
行
西苦乞
洋人但手
耳
幸
或拐商
失人敢
内日備饔飧夜 濟貧會西洋人所 宿而在牢房之 輩急需又有聖保祿 備牀笫如是者 立之妥理濟貧會以 身弱莫能傭工舉目無親意欲旋郛而苦乏盤川跬步推舉者或有女流兒女成 店專條遣徍鮮薅收留者致 往尋工晚歸歇 堂濟貧之項備濟若 之手衆憫而助之遺往東華醫院棲止义有狂病之人醫院外無安身所者或失 醫院爲安居之所故彼巓連 客蓋在彼者日 賙濟者賴有他們教 失職爱起而預其事次郎異省人及有流離失所者又有被拐後蒙救脫拐人 總理等又畏無籟之徒藉据 房而作不謝之 窮窘之西洋人堪蒙 其後頻喚金沙小子輩如此作爲而愛母則從旁窺伺慮有巡差見而蠲醒罔敢 狂院惟賴有東華醫院而該 不得已厠身牢 倘不甚苦人耳所有 錢文如斯以日若輩每使兒女奔走於中環大道見有西人初入者即追隨 有貧人院與及醫院亦無癲 行因丈夫長別離或遠遊無耗以致饔殮莫給者如此之人因按察衙門邇來所 在巡理府署所有濟貧之費 怙恃者或中途盤川不給者三郎凡有事遭意外或擾於病魔或困於煙癖以致 之輩非藉名望之人殷實之
直待彼離港 購濟本港貧人
是遊
事
定侍婢案情恐遭追究是以莫敢將女鬻爲待婢將子鬻作螟蛉
於身
煙所
脫
原非厚是以除格外艱苦
之者
the hillside or anywhere, but in winter they
generally prefer to accept sulkily the hospitality
of the gaol where two meals a day and a bed at
night are furnished to them, provided they turn
in early in the evening and look out in day timel for employment, which eventually takes them away from the Colony.
As to Macao or Hongkong born Portuguese
destitutes, there are always women going about with begging petitions at all hours of the day,
calling at private houses, but generally not im- portunate. Deserving Portuguese poor have,
however, their ecclesiastical charities to provide
for their direst wants, and there is also a Society
of St. Vincent de Paul which is a sort of
Portuguese Charity Organization Society for the poor in the Colony.
As to Chinese destitutes there is no provision
made by Government, nor by private organization,
for dealing with Chinese forms of destitution in a systematic and at the same time humane and
rational manner. Chinese destitution, as seen
in Hongkong, consists in the first instance of hereditary and professional mendicants, viz., lepers
and professional beggars, who use personal rag-
gedness and physical debility or deformity as a means to gain a livelihood by begging for food and base cash. They frequently also employ children who dog the steps of strangers, espe-
cially in Queen's Road Central, clamouring for "kumsha," whilst they themselves keep a lookout
to give timely warning in the rare case of a Constable awaking to his duty of interfering in the matter.
A second class of Chinese destitutes
consists of strangers, waifs and strays cast on the community by kidumppers who have been
interfered with by the Police and who are then lodged at the Tung-wá Hospital, or of lunatics
for whom also there is no other refuge but the Tung-wá Hospital, or of stray orphans, or travellers
left penniless en route. A third class of Chinese destitutes consists of men disabled by accident,
illness or excessive opium smoking, who have no friends here and no money to return to their
ancestral homes, or of women with a larger number of children than they can, in the absence
or through the desertion of their husbands, sup.
port. and who, especially since the Chief Justice's
late judgment on the subject of domestic servitude,
are prevented by fear of prosecution disposing
of their children for legitimate domestic purposes
by arrangement with other families.
For all these Chinese destitutes, who, in pro- portion to a population of over 140,000 Chinese in the Colony, happily form but a comparatively small number, there is neither poor-house uor dispensary nor hospital, nor even lunatic asylum, provided by the Government. There is indeed the Tung-wá Hospital, but the Committee are so afraid of being burdened with permanent pauper patients, that no poor are admitted into the Hos- pital without recommendation on the part of influential subscribers. There is also a Poor Box
of very limited means at the Magistracy, but none but cases of extraordinary misery, or paupers
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