Surveyor-General, the price of them being paid }
to the owners; or if the owners think fit, they can compel the Government to take this alternativo in preference to any other. Then there is a provision for raaking the sale of arms illegal, and providing punishment for selling them. That, I think. is all I need say us to the provision for having or carrying arms. There is one thing, however, I would mention. It has been direct- ed by the Secretary of Slate that an Ordinanca shall be introduced under which the provisiona of the pass system, so far as it refers to the carriage of arms, shall be extended, in accord- ance with the recommendation of the Smug. gling Commission, the report of which was made some time ago, so that it shall apply through- ont the colony in the same way and as fully as it has been hitherto applied to the district of Victoria. The Ordinanca, as it has been inter- preted by the magistrates-I believe the ques- tion was never carried to the Supreme Court-- has been held not to apply beyond the district of Victoria as defined by the Registration Ordinance. It has been pointed out, however, in that report, aud by circumstances repeatedly referred to by the police, that it is desirable the restrictions of this Ordinance, at all events as far as the carriage of armas is concerned, should be extended to the other parts of the colony, and in particular to the district of Kowloon. Therefore by the provisions of this Ordinance, the provisions of the existing Ordinance will be extended to the whole colony. Then with reference to the powers of deportation. I have men- tioned that there is no power at present, under Ord. 8 of 1882 to arrest und detain the person who is to be banished pending the time he has to leave the colony. The Or dinance provides that if the Government thinks fit, he shall be subject to police supervision during that time, provided that he shall have an opportunity of arranging_for his departure and settling his affairs, &e. Then it is provided also that the names of all persons who; have been deported shall be published in Chinese notices from time to tinie, so that additional oppor- tunities of detecting persons returning from banishment will be afforded to the police. I think this is a substantial summary of the whole of the provisions of the Ordinance. It is provided that any person acting in contravention of the Or- dinance, or the regulations made under it, shall be liable to imprisonment with hard labour for a period pot exceeding three months, or at the discretion of the magistrates, to a fine not ex- ceeding $500.
The ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded the motion.
Hon. T. JACKSON-Your Excellency, I hearti ly approve of the urgent measure taken to-day for the botter preservation of law and order in this colony. I am sure it is patent to every one of as the position of things here is very far from satisfactory. Bayond all doubt there is a very large number of lawless characters at large in Hongkong prepared to pray on property and seize any opportunity for plunder. These ought to be dealt with as, I believe, they are very ef fentively dealt with in the Straits Settlements, by a deportation Ordinance. People of this class ought to be sent from among us, sent to their own country, to be dealt with according to the laws of their own land; at all events we should have nothing more to do with them. I heard some days ago, on what I considered good authority, that there are at present 10,000 mem- bers of the Triad Society in the colony. The presence of these people constitutes a real danger to law and order, and the Executive cannot
take too strong measures to put down the pro- sent state of things with a high band. Weak. ness and indecision on the part of the Govern- ment are twin brothers to violence and lawless- ness on the part of the governed. There is an- other matter I think ought to be noticed in con- neotion with these recent troubles. I think it ought to be publicly stated that beyond all doubt there is but one Government in this colony, and that is the Executive-that there is no body of Chinese gentlemen between the Government and the Chinese people. I believe it is stated in the Chinese prints that the settlement of the dis- order the other day was in consequence of the representations made by one or more members of the Tung Wah Hospital, and promises have been held out by these gentlemen which they are not in a position to fulfil in shape or form. I think it should be public. ly stated this day in Council that these gentle- men of the Tung Wah Hospital are merely members of a charitable organisation and their powers begin and end there. They sp pear to wish to arrogate to themselves something
any
more and to assume a position which is not per- missible and which they are certainly not entitled to. I hope we will hear no more of the gentle- men of the Tung Wah Hospital in connection with matters of this kind.
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Hon. P. RYRIE-I rise to heartily support the ; remarks of my hon. friend. I have myself re- ceived inforniation from various sources that there are these dangerous persons here, and, moreover, that the dangerous persons are not the lower classes but are persons belonging to the so-called respectable classes who are badly dis-: posed towards the Gevernment of the colony. Whether they belong to these societies themselves or are merely influencing them I do not know, but I myself heard a versation on the Praya on Sunday afternoon which shows that at least one ex-member of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee, who is a very active man though not a member of the Com- mittee at present, has something to do with the recent disturbances. A Chinese was being spoken to by Captain Dempster and was asked why he had not kept his promise to send cargo boats and cooliasto commence work that morning. This man replied that "ho had first to go to the Tang Wah Hospital to see the gentlemen there, and that when he got there--" He had got as far as this when this gentleman stopped him with a strong Chinese exclamation to shut his mouth. This was heard by two gentlemen, and it con- vinces me that these people are interfering in a way in which they ought not be allowed to do. Another suggestion I heard made was--and 1 think it would have a very good effect on the Chinese portion of the community-that the whole of the European members of the comma- nity should be enrolled as special constables. I think if the Chinese knew that every single European, or nearly every European, was sup- porting the Government they would be careful what they were about. That was done on a former occasion, and the effect was a very good one. There were in the colony a number of emissaries of a patriotic organisation called the Taug Kwan, who had their head-quarters at Kam Tow. Their object was to operate against the peace and good order of the colony. The" Chinese, we all know, are very reluctant to com. mit themselves in any way or make themselves the mark for the vengeance of any one. There. fore they merely say there are a lot of bad people in the colony, and there they end. The msa- sures taken at the time I have mentioned wore to show them the Europeans were able to defend themselves, and the effect was to make matters so uncomfortable for them that very soon these! bad people were got away. I am referring to what took place in 1857 or 1858, and those mea- sures were effectual in course of time.
The Ordinance was then read a first time.
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