6.
allow such
as
а
I could not, of
course,
matter to be treated
e question of privilege entitling
الحية من الله
Mr Johnson to interrupt the President when addressing the bouncil and moving the first order of the Day.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord, Your Lordship's Most Obedient
Humble Servant,
The Hongkong Telegraph
HONGKONG, Thursday, February 23, 1882.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
A meeting of the Legislative Council was held yesterday afternoon. There were present--
His EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR. Hon. F. SNOWDEN, Acting Chief Justice. Hon. M. S. TONNOCHY, Acting Colonial Secre-
taly.
Hon. E. L. O'MALLEY, Attorney-General. Hon. W.M.DEANE, Acting Colonial Treasurer. lion. P. RYRIE. Hon. NG CHOY.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON.
MINUTES.
The minutes of the last meeting were read by the Clerk.
His EXCELLENCY-The question is that the minutes be confirmed.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-Before those minutes are passed, sir, may I ask--I think I am in order -whether the protest I caused to be delivered to the Clerk of Councils on the 13th has been placed on the ininutes.
His EXCELLENCY-The protest was received after the last meeting, and therefore it cannot be entered as part of the minutes of the last meeting, but having been received by the Clerk of Councils after the last meeting the protest will, immedi- ately, be refered to at this meeting,
The minutes were then confirmed.
His EXCELLENCY-Now, gentlemen, I have the honour to announce that a protest has been received from the hon. member by the Clerk of Councils, and, if the hon. member wishes, it will be read.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-I have no special desire it should be read, so long as it be inserted in the minutes of the proceedings of Council.
His EXCELLENCY-Certainly it will be in- sched. It may, perhaps, be as well to read it.
The CLERK then read the protest as follows--
To His Excellenc
Sir John Pore HENNESSY, K.C.M.G.,
Onvernor of Hongkong;
and to ÁRATUGON SETH, Esquire,
Clerk of Councils.
Hongkong, 13th Feburg, 1882.
I do hereby protest in waiting against the decision of Your Ex- cellency, ritated by you in the latter addressed to me by the Clerk of Councils deted the 7 b instant, and confumed by you in the Islative Council of that day, by which decision your Excel- leucy Laled that a motion of mine, of my intention to move which. at that Cornell, I had given des notice, and the terms of which I shall presently state in extensa, was it regular and out of order.
The motion to which I allude, was as follows That His Excellency will be pleased to direct the Acting Colonial Secretary to lay upon the table copies of learers addressed by me to the Acting Colonial Secretary dated and December, with enclosures, and 7th and 18th December, and of the Acting Colonial Secretary's replies data respectively 5th and 13th December; also that his Excellency will he pleased to lay upon the table copies of a letter addressed by Mr. T. C. Hayllar to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated on or about 27th July, 1881, of a covering despatch from His Excellency the Governor about the same date, and of a letter from Mr. T. C. Hayllar to the Secretsoy of State, asking permission to withdraw his despatch of a7th July, 1881, and dated 8th September, comprising a series ut documents with have been exhibited to members of Council by His Excellency's directions."
I have the honour to be, your most obedient serving,
F. BULSALEY JOHNSON,
The CLERK said there was a minute of His Excellency's on the protest, and asked if His Ex- cellency wished that read also.
His EXCELLENCY directed the minute to be read.
The CLERK read the minute as follows-
HIS EXCELLENCY'S MINUT
There is a slight inaccuracy or misconception in the latter part of the protest about documents being exhibited by my direction), but nevertheless, let it be entered in full in the winutes,
J. Pore HENNESSY. Hongkong, rath Februa 3, 1862,
His EXCELLENCY-Now, gentlemen, the first business of the Council-
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-I hope again that I shall be strictly in order. 1 have no desire to transgress the rules. I rise to call the attention of the Council, to a question of privilege which--
His EXCELLENCY--A question of privilege What does it relate to ?
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-Well, I will proceed to describe it. You can ale me out of order if I say anything irregular.
His EXCELLENCY-I will point out to the bon. member the inconvenience of the course he is taking. We are guided here very much by the practice of the House of Commons, and the in- variable practice is that if a member objects, as the hon. meinber evidently does, to a former
5879 1
raling of the President, or speaker, Go gives a notice in some shape or other Moreover, a question of privilege is something that must have recently arisen. If it is anything that Bast 2 been decided at a fornier meeting it is not a ques- tion of privilege, and no notice has been given to me or the Clerk of Councils.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-Can I speak in reply? His EXCELLENCY-No. The hon. member has received the Orders of the Day. No discus- sion whatever can take place on a subject which three meetings ago was ruled irregular and out of order, and in respect to which a protest has been read by the Clerk of Councils. That protest is now on the minutes.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON--Your Excellency will recollect I have been debarred from giving notice in the usual way by the fact that the Council has been suramoned in an informal way at twenty- four hours' notice, whereas by the Standing Orders the time for giving notice of motions must be at least three days. Under these circumstances, I conceive I could not give notice in the usual form, and if you will allow me to quote from the only text book in the Colony-
His EXCELLENCY-I assure the hon. member be would be out of onder in doing so. He has endeavoured to bring to the notice of Council a ruling of mine made some weeks ago. I am the guardian of the order of this assembly, and under these circumstances any attempt to set aside any rating as a question of privilege and after two or three meetings have passed would only be increasing the irregularity,
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-Then your Excellency will note that I have risen to speak on a ques- tion of privilege and you decline to allow me-
His EXCELLENCY-I have pointed out-the hon. member has had twenty-four hours' notice- that nothing would have been easier than to give. some intimation of what he had intended. I infer he wishes to refer to what occurred on a former occasion.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON-Your Excellency is mistaken. I have no intention whatever to allude to the motion which your Excellency declined to allow me to make the other day. What I have to say relates to something that occurred on a former occasion which-
His EXCELLENCY--If so, it cannot be referred to now as a matter of privilege. That is the rule in the House of Coinmons; and, furthermore, no motion can be made similar to that which has already been ruled out of order.
Hen. F. B. JOHNSON-Your Excellency will allow the notes of what has taken place to appear on the minutes.
His EXCELLENCY-The hon. gentleman can transmit to the Clerk another protest if he likes. THE JURY LIST.
!
His EXCELLENCY-It is usual, gentlemen, in proceeding with the consideration of the Jury List to do so with closed doors, that is, without hav ing the Press present. I am entirely in your hands on that question. I suggested on one oc- casion that I saw no necessity to exclude the gentlemen of the Press. However, that is a mat- fer entirely in the hands of the Council. The question is, shall we proceed in the usual way and Consider the Jury List as before, or shall we allow the gentlemen of the Press to be present? [After some conversation.] I think the feeling of the Council is that the gentlemen of the Press might withdraw,
The reporters then withdrew, and were sub- sequently admitted when the July List had been settled.
NATURALIZATION.
His EXCELLENCY moved the second reading of a Bill for the naturalization of Lai shun Ting. He said it was not necessary to make any altera- tion in the preamble of the Bill, but, as suggested by the Acting Colonial Treasurer at the last meeting, there was now a memorandum attached in which the age and place of birth were given. In this case he saw the age was thirty-six years and the place of birth swatow, but in other cases they might have even fuller particulars.
The ACTING COLONIAL TREASURER pointed. out that the person referred to in the Bill was, according to the memorandum, at present re- siding in Foochow, and asked if it would not be better to wait until he was resident in the Colony. His EXCELLENCY said that under those circum- stances he thought they had better put off the Bill. Bills for the naturalization of the following were then passed through their various stages and read a third time-Chan Teng Cho, merchant, age 39, place of birth Amoy; Ng Li Hing, age 37, place of birth Amoy; You Chong Peng, age 30, place of birth Amoy; Chan Mun Wing, age 41, place of birth Amoy.
488
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.