Sel
193
(24)
2. Having traced some of the habitual criminals of this Colony to the gambling haunts in the villages just beyond the boundary of British Kowloon, I represented the facts to Sir BROOKE ROBERTSON, who lost no time in asking the Viceroy of Canton to check the gambling. Mr. CREAGH now reports that it has not yet ceased, though some of the tables have been closed. In the same report he says:-
"Numbers of deported criminals frequent this neighbourhood; on the 8th instant fifteen men who had been branded and banished from this Colony were counted in the streets of Chinese Kowloon and Sham Shui Po."
3. The villages where these branded men were seen are within a few yards of our territory. Mr. CREAGH is of opinion that many of the night robberies which have been of late years reported in this Colony have been committed by such men.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor.
(25)
4. After a few years' consideration and inquiry, I think the time has now come for modifying the Flogging and Branding Ordinances of Hongkong, not merely in accordance with the more humane code of laws in civilized countries, but in accordance with the clear evidence obtained as to the evil effect in this Colony of the Flogging and Branding system, and its final condemnation by the officers entrusted with the administration of the law and the treatment of criminals. No doubt, under the authority given to me by Her Majesty's Commission, I have been able, from time to time, to lessen in particular cases the rigour of those Ordinances by the lawful exercise of the clemency of the Crown, when, after carefully complying with the Royal Instructions in such matters, I have thought it necessary to do so. That and other causes account for the reduced number of floggings, as shown in one of the enclosed returns.
5. In 1876, the year before my arrival, the number of prisoners flogged in Hongkong was 113. Since then the number of floggings has been as follows:---
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&c.
&c.
GOVERNOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE BRANDING AND FLOGGING LAWS OF HONGKONG.
No. 60.
GOVERNOR SIR JOHN POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, Bt., M.P.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 18th May, 1880.
SIR,--The enclosed official returns and reports dispose finally of some questions brought to the notice of Her Majesty's Government about three years ago as to the excessive use of the lash in this Colony, and the increase of crime that seemed to be partly due to the practice of branding Chinese criminals, and some other cruel and occasionally illegal punishments of the natives.
2. Those returns include the criminal statistics of Hongkong for the year 1879, prepared, in the usual course, by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, the head of the Police, the Police Magistrates, and the Superintendent of the Gaol. They also contain comparative tables of the number of criminals for some years past. The Police Magistrates give an abstract of cases and convictions from 1870 to 1879, inclusive, and the Superintendent of the Gaol gives the number of admissions to prison from 1862 to 1879, inclusive. In continuation of the Return of the Acting Superintendent of the Gaol of the number of floggings from 1867 to 1876, which was laid before Lord CARNARVON in my despatch No. 103 of the 30th of August, 1877, the Superintendent now gives the number of floggings up to the end of 1879.
3. Two or three months after I had assumed the Government of this Colony, I drew Lord CARNARVON's attention to the large number of floggings in Hongkong, and to the undue severity, in some cases leading, in the opinion of the Colonial Surgeon, to loss of life, with which the lash had been applied.* I observed that in no other part of Her Majesty's Empire was there a code of laws giving such extensive powers of flogging, but I added, "Looking, however, to the theory held by intelligent Europeans here as to the specially criminal character of the native population of the Colony, and to the views of experienced European officials and other gentlemen who have lived in Hongkong for many years, that flogging is one of the very best modes of dealing with Chinese criminals, I am not prepared, without careful inquiry and much greater consideration than I have yet been able to give to the subject, to recommend a more humane code of laws, or to make any attempt to assimilate in this respect the Ordinances of the Colony with the general practice of the British Empire."†
46
* Extracts from Colonial Surgeon's Report-"I have noticed that in all floggings of Chinese with the cat that they suffer, besides the external injury of the skin, more or less from congestion of the lungs afterwards, and in old cases where the floggings have been severe, irreparable injury has been done." 6th July, 1877.
MOK-A-KWAI, released from Gaol in a dying condition, and LAUNG-A-HOT, still in Gaol suffering from Phthisis, were both when they entered healthy, powerful, muscular men, presenting no indications whatever of hereditary disease. To what then can the disease they were attacked with be attributed? I cannot myself regard it otherwise than as caused by the punishment they had received; both of them were horribly marked, their backs having sloughed from extensive bruising." 18th October, 1878.
† Papers relating to Flogging of Prisoners in Hongkong. Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, August 1879. Page 5.
1876,
1877,
1878,
1879,
1880 (up to date),
113
53
49
18
......none.
Furthermore, in 1877 I stopped all public floggings, and the flogging of the natives with the cat-o'-nine tails on the back, pending the decision of Her Majesty's Government. I also put a stop in 1877 to the practice of branding Chinese criminals and then banishing them under what are called "Conditional Pardons." I took the responsibility also of requesting the Police Magistrates to abandon the system of giving repeated short sentences to old offenders, and, instead of such a lax system, to commit them to the Supreme Court.
6. No actual legislation was necessary to enable me to effect these reforms, but it required me, as Governor, to investigate and decide on each particular case where flogging or branding was recommended; the Secretary of State having been, of course, duly notified by me of the general action I was taking.
7. A very small, but, in some respects, influential section of the European community did not like what they called my lenient treatment of the Chinese, and they seemed to entertain no slight amount of fear at the increased number of admissions to the Gaol, of cases before the Magistrates, and of cases before the Supreme Court, that they asserted would inevitably follow from my mode of dealing with the natives.
8. That the action of the local Government has not occasioned any increase of crime, is seen from the following figures, which appear in the enclosed returns:--
Number of admissions to the Hongkong Gaol.
1877
1878,
1879,
.3,946
.3,803
..3,669
Number convicted and punished (fined or imprisoned) by the Police Magistrates.
1877, 1878, 1879,
.7,908
..7,794
.6,119
The Head of the Police, in his report dated 23rd January, 1880, says:--
The Criminal Statistics show that 6,129 cases were reported to the Police during the past year, being a decrease of 706 cases or 10.32 per cent from the returns for 1878. In the sub-division of these cases into Serious Crimes (so called) and Minor Offences, a decrease of 214 cases or 8.19 per cent is found in Serious Crimes, and a decrease of 492 cases or 11.64 per cent in Minor Offences.
9. Finally, the experienced head of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Sir JOHN SMALK, in his report, dated 19th April, 1880, upon those criminal returns, says:--
"His Excellency Governor HENNESSY has restored the rule according to which Sir HERCULES ROBINSON dealt with convicts.
**
***
1
Sel
193
( 24 )
2. Having traced some of the habitual criminals of this Colony to the gambling haunts in the villages just beyond the boundary of British Kowloong, I represented the facts to Sir BROOKE ROBERTSON, who lost no time in asking the Viceroy of Canton to check the gambling. Mr. CREAGH now repo that it has not yet ceased, though some of the tables have been closed. In the same report he says:-
"Numbers of deported criminals frequent this neighbourhood; on the 8th instant fifteen men who "had been branded and banished from this Colony were counted in the streets of Chinese Kowloon "and Sham Shui Po."
3. The villages where these branded men were seen are within a few yards of our territory. Mr. CREAGH is of opinion that many of the night robberies which have been of late years reported in this Colony have been committed by such men.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor.
( 25 )
4. After a few years' consideration and inquiry, I think the time has now come for modifying the Flogging and Branding Ordinances of Hongkong, not merely in accordance with the more bumane code of laws in civilized countries, but in accordance with the clear evidence obtained as to the evil effect in this Colony of the Flogging and Branding system, and its final condemnation by the officers entrusted the administration of the law and the treatment of criminals. No doubt, under the authority given to me by Her Majesty's Commission, I have been able, from time to time, to lessen in particular cases the rigour of those Ordinances by the lawful exercise of the clemency of the Crown, when, after carefully complying with the Royal Instructions in such matters, I have thought it necessary to do so. That and other causes account for the reduced number of floggings, as shown in one of the enclosed
returns.
5. In 1876, the year before my arrival, the number of prisoners flogged in Hongkong was 113. Since then the number of floggings has been as follows:---
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
Fe..
H.,
&c.
GOVERNOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE BRANDING AND FLOGGING LAWS OF HONGKONG.
No. 60.
GOVERNOR SIR JOHN POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, Bт., M.P.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 18th May, 1880. SIR,--The enclosed official returns and reports dispose finally of some questions brought to the notice of Her Majesty's Government about three years ago as to the excessive use of the lash in this Colony, and the increase of crime that seemed to be partly due to the practice of branding Chinese criminals, and some other cruel and occasionally illegal punishments of the natives.
2. Those returns include the criminal statistics of Hongkong for the year 1879, prepared, in the usual course, by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, the lead of the Police, the Police Magistrates, and the Superintendent of the Gaol. They also contain comparative tables of the number of criminals for some years past. The Police Magistrates give an abstract of cases and convictions from 1870 to 1879, inclusive, and the Superintendent of the Gaol gives the number of admissions to prison from 1862 to 1879, inclusive. In continuation of the Return of the Acting Superintendent of the Gaol of the number of floggings from 1867 to 1876, which was laid before Lord CARNARVON in my despatch No. 103 of the 30th of August, 1877, the Superintendent now gives the number of floggings up to the end
of 1879.
3. Two or three months after I had assumed the Government of this Colony, I drew Lord CARNARVON's attention to the large number of floggings in Hongkong, and to the undue severity, in some cases leading, in the opinion of the Colonial Surgeon, to loss of life, with which the lash had been applied.* I observed that in no other part of Her Majesty's Empire was there a code of laws giving such extensive powers of flogging, but I added, "Looking, however, to the theory held by intelligent Europeans here as to the specially criminal character of the native population of the Colony, and to the views of experienced European officials and other gentlemen who have lived in Hongkong for many years, that flogging is one of the very best modes of dealing with Chinese criminals, I am not prepared, without careful inquiry and much greater consideration than I have yet been able to give "to the subject, to recommend a more humane code of laws, or to make any attempt to assimilate in "this respect the Ordinances of the Colony with the general practice of the British Empire." †
"S
46
* Extracts from Colonial Surgeon's Report-"I have noticed that in all floggings of Chinese with the cat that they suffer, besides the "external injury of the skin, more or less from congestion of the lungs afterwards, and in old cases where the floggings have been severe. "irreparable injury has been done." 6th July, 1877.
MOK-A-KWAI, released from Gaol in a dying condition, and LAUNG-A-HOT, still in Gaol suffering from Phthisis, were both when they "entered healthy, powerful, mascular men, presenting no indications whatever of hereditary disease. To what then can the disease they were "attacked with be attributed? I cannot myself regard it otherwise than as caused by the punishment they had received; both of them were "horribly macked, their backs having sloughed from extensive bruising." 18th October, 1878,
† Papers rainting to Flogging of Prisoners in Hongkong. Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, August 1879. Page 5.
1876,
1877,
1878,
1879,.
1880 (up to date),
113
53
49
18
......none.
Furthermore, in 1877 I stopped all public floggings, and the flogging of the natives with the cat-o'-nine tails on the back, pending the decision of Her Majesty's Government. I also put a stop in 1877 to the practice of branding Chinese criminals and then banishing them under what are called "Conditional Pardons." I took the responsibility also of requesting the Police Magistrates to abandon the system of giving repeated short sentences to old offenders, and, instead of such a lax system, to commit them to the Supreme Court.
6. No actual legislation was necessary to enable me to effect these reforms, but it required me, as Governor, to investigate and decide on each particular case where flogging or branding was recom- mended; the Secretary of State having been, of course, duly notified by me of the general action I was taking.
7. A very small, but, in some respects, influential section of the European community did not like what they called my lenient treatment of the Chinese, and they seemed to entertain no slight amount of fear at the increased number of admissions to the Gaol, of cases before the Magistrates, and of cases before the Supreme Court, that they asserted would inevitably follow from my mode of dealing with But as you were good enough to point out to them, when they appealed to Her Majesty's Government against my suspension of public floggings, branding, &c., there was no cause for fear, and the management of these matters might be safely left to the local Government,
the natives.
8. That the action of the local Government has not occasioned any increase of crime, is seen from the following figures, which appear in the enclosed returns :--
Number of admissions to the Hongkong Gaol.
1877
1878,
1879,
.3,946
.3,803
..3,669
Number convicted and punished (fined or imprisoned) by the Police Magistrates.
1877, 1878, 1879,
.7,908
..7,794
.6,119
The Head of the Police, in his report dated 23rd January, 1880, says :--
The Criminal Statistics show that 6,129 cases were reported to the Police during the past year, 'being a decrease of 706 cases or 10.32 per cent from the returns for 1878. In the sub-division of "these cases into Serious Crimes (so called) and Minor Offences, a decrease of 214 cases or 8.19 per ceut is found in Serious Crimes, and a decrease of 492 cases or 11.64 per cent in Minor Offences."
9. Finally, the experienced head of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Sir JOHN SMALK, in his report, dated 19th April, 1880, upon those criminal returns, says :—
"His Excellency Governor HENNESSY has restored the rule according to which Sir HERCULES "ROBINSON dealt with convicts.
**
***
1
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