192
( 22 )
DESPATCHES AS TO THE EFFECT OF BRANDING.
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
No. 60.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 12th July, 1877.
MY LORD, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Lordship's despatch* No. 51 of the 18th May, pointing out certain objectionable provisions in the Ordinance passed on the 11th of December, 1876, by my predecessor and the Legislative Council, for the deportation, branding and punishment of certain criminals.
2. From my despatch No. 44 of the 23rd of June, 1877, Your Lordship will see that soon after my arrival in the month of April, and throughout the month of May, I expressed great reluctance to enforce the exceptional and severe provisions of the existing law, of which this enactment is a consolidation. I declined to regard the usual recommendation of the Magistrates on the subject, even when supported by the opinion of the Attorney General, as a matter of routine which I was bound to sanction. I looked into each case myself, and unless I was convinced it really involved the peace of the Colony and the general safety of the residents, I refused to sign the warrant of deportation.
3. I have called for returns showing the real effect of the system on the criminal population. These returns are not yet completed, but as far as my enquiries have gone, they seem to justify a statement made in October 1872 by Mr. DOUGLAS, the late Superintendent of the Hongkong Gaol, in a report on branding, to the effect that when a prisoner is deported with a Gaol mark on his neck, which cannot be concealed and not removed without mutilation, it prevents him from getting an honest livelihood in his own country, or being taken as an emigrant, so that such a man is tempted to become a pirate or a robber near the shores of this Colony, upon which he is thus driven back.
4. Those returns I trust soon to be able to lay before Your Lordship. Meanwhile, I enclose a list of thirty-nine prisoners branded and deported on the 22nd of January this year.
5. The expediency of branding and deporting prisoners, merely to reduce the numbers in Gaol, would seem, from an examination of this return, to be somewhat doubtful. Long-sentenced prisoners, short-sentenced prisoners, prisoners whose character in Gaol is described as "very bad," and those whose character is described as "very good," are all treated in the same way, and sent in a batch to the mainland of China when one-third of their sentences has been worked out. This practice, which seems to have prevailed here for some years, throws some light on the defective discipline of the Gaol.
6. With reference to such cases as the last on the list, where a man named WONG A-SHING, who was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and had undergone only one month, is deported and branded, I fear that the Acting Superintendent (who himself does not speak a word of Chinese) may possibly have been mistaken in reporting that the prisoner was willing to be disfigured, and marked as a thief, for the rest of his life, to get off the final two months' imprisonment. The petitions that the prisoners in such cases are called upon to sign, are printed forms in English which they cannot read. Mr. TOMLIN's letter of the 12th January, 1877, stating that he had ascertained that there were 45 prisoners who could be advantageously branded and deported, was in reply to an enquiry of the Executive as to what number of prisoners could be deported for the purpose of relieving the overcrowded state of the Gaol.
( 23 )
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF Carnarvon.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 1st August, 1877.
79.
MY LORD,--As an illustration of the system that has been adopted for dealing with crime in this Colony, I enclose for Your Lordship's information an extract from the Police Report of last week. It relates to a prisoner named CHAN ON, whose case was included in the Statistics of Deportation of last year and this year, referred to in my despatch No. 73 of the 28th of July.
2. According to the general system here, for the first offence in 1874 he got a short imprisonment and a flogging. For his second offence another short imprisonment and two floggings. For his third offence he was again imprisoned, and then deported in July 1876. For his fourth offence--returning from deportation--he was sentenced to be imprisoned for twelve months with hard labour: but when half his Sentence only had expired he was branded and again deported, in February 1877.
3. His fifth offence, for which he will now have to be tried, is having again returned from deportation.
4. The history of this prisoner (which is by no means an uncommon one) shows the want of a Government Reformatory. He was first committed to Hongkong Gaol as a juvenile offender. second committal was also as a juvenile offender.
5. His speedy return after being branded and deported, illustrates a remark I ventured to make in paragraph 3 of despatch No. 60 of the 12th of July.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor.
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&c.,
&c..
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CARNARVON.
GOVERNMENT House, No. 119.
HONGKONG, 20th September, 1877.
MY LORD,-1 have the honour to lay before Your Lordship an extract from this evening's paper giving a brief report of a case in the Supreme Court,--REGINA v. CHUN Á-FOOK.
2. As Your Lordship will see, the prisoner was technically "an old offender," though only twenty-two years of age, for he had been six times in prison, including three convictions for returning from deportation.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor.
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&c..
&c..
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&c.,
&c.,
* Laid before the Legislative Council and printed in 1879. Committee on Police and Crime, Appendix, p. viii.
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF Carnarvon.
No. 146.
GOVERNMENT House, HONGKONG, 25th October, 1877,
MY LORD,-The enclosed report from the Acting Captain Superintendent of Police illustrates one of the results of the branding and deporting system.
192
( 22 )
DESPATCHES AS TO THE EFFECT OF BRANDING.
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
No. 60.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 12th July, 1877.
MY LORD, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Lordship's despatch* No. 51 of the 18th May, pointing out certain objectionable provisions in the Ordinance passed on the 11th of December, 1876, by my predecessor and the Legislative Council, for the deportation, branding and punishment of certain criminals.
2. From my despatch No. 44 of the 23rd of June, 1877, Your Lordship will see that soon after my arrival in the month of April, and throughout the month of May, I expressed great reluctance to enforce the exceptional and severe provisions of the existing law, of which this enactment is a consoli- dation. I declined to regard the usual recommendation of the Magistrates on the subject, even when supported by the opinion of the Attorney General, as a matter of routine which I was bound to sanction. I looked into each case myself, and unless I was convinced it really involved the peace of the Colony and the general safety of the residents, I refused to sign the warrant of deportation.
3. I have called for returns showing the real effect of the system on the criminal population. These returns are not yet completed, but as far as my enquiries have gone, they seem to justify a state- ment made in October 1872 by Mr. DOUGLAS, the late Superintendent of the Hongkong Gaol, in a report on branding, to the effect that when a prisoner is deported with a Gaol mark on his neck, which cannot be concealed and not removed without mutilation, it prevents him from getting an honest live- lihood in his own country, or being taken as an emigrant, so that such a man is tempted to become a pirate or a robber near the shores of this Colony, upon which he is thus driven back.
4. Those returns I trust soon to be able to lay before Your Lordship. Meanwhile, I enclose a list of thirty-nine prisoners branded and deported on the 22nd of January this
year.
5. The expediency of branding and deporting prisoners, merely to reduce the numbers in Gaol, would seem, from an examination of this return, to be somewhat doubtful. Long-sentenced prisoners, short-sen- tenced prisoners, prisoners whose character in Gaol is described as "very bad," and those whose char- acter is described as "very good," are all treated in the same way, and sent in a batch to the mainland of China when one-third of their sentences has been worked out. This practice, which seems to have prevailed here for some years, throws some light on the defective discipline of the Gaol.
6. With reference to such cases as the last on the list, where a man named WONG A-SHING, who was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and had undergone only one month, is deported and branded, I fear that the Acting Superintendent (who himself does not speak a word of Chinese) may possibly have been mistaken in reporting that the prisoner was willing to be disfigured, and marked as a thief, for the rest of his life, to get off the final two months' imprisonment. The petitions that the prisoners in such cases are called upon to sign, are printed forms in English which they cannot read. Mr. TOMLIN's letter of the 12th January, 1877, stating that he had ascertained that there were 45 prisoners who could be advantageously branded and deported, was in reply to an enquiry of the Executive as to what number of prisoners could be deported for the purpose of relieving the overcrowded state of the Gaol.
( 23 )
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF Carnarvon.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 1st August, 1877.
79.
MY LORD,--As an illustration of the system that has been adopted for dealing with crime in this Colony, I enclose for Your Lordship's information an extract from the Police Report of last week. It relates to a prisoner named CHAN ON, whose case was included in the Statistics of Deportation of last year and this year, referred to in my despatch No. 73 of the 28th of July.
2. According to the general system here, for the first offence in 1874 he got a short imprison- ment and a flogging. For his second offence another short imprisonment and two floggings. For his third offence he was again imprisoned, and then deported in July 1876. For his fourth offence-- returning from deportation--he was sentenced to be imprisoned for twelve months with hard labour: but when half his Sentence only had expired he was branded and again deported, in February 1877.
3. His fifth offence, for which he will now have to be tried, is having again returned from deport-
ation.
His
4. The history of this prisoner (which is by no means an uncommon one) shows the want of a Government Reformatory. He was first committed to Hongkong Gaol as a juvenile offender. second committal was also as a juvenile offender.
5. His speedy return after being branded and deported, illustrates a remark I ventured to make in paragraph 3 of despatch No. 60 of the 12th of July.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor.
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
$.,
ke..
dc.
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CARNARVON.
GOVERNMENT House, No. 119.
HONGKONG, 20th September, 1877.
MY LORD,-1 have the honour to lay before Your Lordship an extract from this evening's paper giving a brief report of a case in the Supreme Court,--REGINA v. CHUN Á-FOOK.
2. As Your Lordship will see, the prisoner was technically "an old offender," though only twenty-
two years of age, for he had been six times in prison, including three convictions for returning from
deportation.
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor.
;
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governar.
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&C..
$e.
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&c.,
•
fc.,
* Laid before the Legislative Council and printed in 1879. Committee on Police and Crime, Appendix, p. viii.
GOVERNOR J. POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF Carnarvon.
No. 146.
GOVERNMENT House, HONGKONG, 25th October, 1877,
MY LORD,-The enclosed report from the Acting Captain Superintendent of Police illustrates one of the results of the branding and deporting system.
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