CO129-228 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1886 [7-9] — Page 126

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The China Ittail.

HONGKONG, THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1886.

CRIME IN KWANTUNG. The following translation of a memorial which appeared in the Peking Gazette on the 28th March is taken from the N.-C. D. News. It will be seen that the memo- rialista consider that the adjoining city of Kowloon is a head centre of the Secret Societies, and that Hongkong is made a refuge of the criminal classes of Canton and neighbourhood. If the atatement re- garding the secret societies be true, there can be little wonder that there are so many members of them in Hongkong, nor is it wonderful that our Colony has been in- fested of late by so many of the criminal classes. Rather is it to be wondered at that

there has been so little serious crime here. This result is no doubt due to the activity and efficiency of the Police :---

A joint Memorial from the Governor General and Governor at Canton, calling attention to the growing danger that exists in that province in the increase of the: criminallasses, the extirpation of the most prominent members of which they propose to compass by an organised system of search.

They commence with the assertion that the bad characters who are a pest to the country may be divided into three classes : one, highwaymen or burglars; two, mem- bers of secret societies; three, fighting men. The first class rob and plunder, the second form into seditious factions, and the third commit acts of arson and tourder; and all three come under the general term feż or criminal class. When the members of a secret society become numerous, they take to brigaudage, when highwaymen flourish they join in faction fights; and when faction fights continue for any length of time the whole of the three classes abovo described join in, to the immense injury of the agri cultural and mercantile class and the subversion of law and order. Brigand- age or highway robbery is specially rampant in the littoral district of the Cant n Prefecture, the riverine Districts of the Chao Ching and Shao-chon Pre- fectures, and the coasts of Lien-chow Fu and Ch'iung-ohon Fu in Hainan.

The secret societies prevail most in Hui-chou Fu and the Kowloon Township, adjoining Hongkong, and are gradually spreading over the Kao-chou and Lien-chou Pre- fectures, while faction fights are specially prevalent in the three Prefectures of Hui- chou, Ch'ao-chou (Swalow) and Canton, Lien-chou and Ch'iung-chou coming next in the list. The criminal classes of Can- ton, Hui-chou and Ch'ao-chou find a har- bourage in Hongkong and Macao, those of Lien-chou and Ch'iung-chou taking refuge in Annam.

It should be observed that previous to the reign Tung Chih the Swatow Prefec- ture bore the worst reputation for unman- ageableness, arson and internecine feuds, the country being devastated to such an extent that the commercial classes were sorely straitened. Payment of taxes was resisted, and so little was authority respect- ed that the country was in a semi-barbarous state. In the year 1868 Jui-lin, who was then Governor-General, after reference to the Throne, deputed Fang Yao, who was acting at the time as General of the Ch'ao- chou Division, to make a raid upon the disaffected classes, and that officer, sup- ported by a military force, made an in- quisitorial tour through all the rebellious districts, disposing of the long list of arrears of criminal cases that had accumulated. In the course of this tour he seized and ex-

Enclosure4-

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ecuted over, eleven hundred prominent oriminals, to the great satisfaction of the people, and for the past ten years and more the Ch'ao-chou Prefecture has enjoyed tranquillity. Similar expeditions were taken against local rebels or faction fighters in the Shao-chou and Canton Prefectures in 1871; in 1873 against the remnants of the great rebellion, who had established themselves in Kao-chou and Lien-chou on the borders of Kuangtung and Kuangsi, and in 1877 against the Hui-chou rebels, These expeditions had in every instance a wholesome effect, but the measures taken were not sufficiently drastic. so that on the withdrawal of the troops secret societies were again formed and robberies and faction fights continued to take place as usual. During the last few years the question of coast defence has occupied attention to the exclusion of the interior, and in 1882 and 1884 risings occurred at Lei-po in Kao- chou Fu and Nion-shan in Hui-chou Fu respectively. In both instances the measures adopted were not radical. Added

to this, vagrant irregular soldiers who had been disbanded, pirates, salt smugglers, members of secret societies, pugnacious villagers and aggressive clans banded toge- ther and mutually incited or assisted one another, thus increasing materially the criminal classes above categorised, with the result that murde-a from motives of revenge occur with increasing frequency, and fights are waged with fire and sword, scores of villages and towns becoming involved in them and scores of

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of pillage and robbery occurring month by month. The more powerfni clans tyrannise over the weaker at will, and resistance to official authority is a matter of ordinary occurrence, the evil being beyond the power of proclamation or despatch to put a stop to, or of local authorities or police to cope with. If the present opportunity be not seized, when there is a slight relaxa- tion from the occupation of war, to make inquisitorial tours, backed by a sufficient armed force, at the discretion of the high authorities, in the course of which the good may be separated from the bad and the power of the military arm be displayed with a view to compelling "the surrender of criminals and arms, and the wholesale pan- ishment of vice, there is every reason to apprehend endless disaster in the future. Harbourers of bad characters should also be punished with severity, while restraint should be exercised by means of Treaty provisions, which should be connoiated and strictly enforced, exhortation being applied at the same time.

The opinions above expressed by the Memorialists are fully shared, it may be stated, by Fêng Tzü-ts'ai, commander-in- chief of Kuanysi, Admiral Fang Yao, and Chống Shao chung. Acting Commander. in-chief (of Kuangtung 1), and it is now proposed to institute a thorough search through all the notoriously disaffected dis- tricts of the Canton provinces with a view to clearing them of the three classes of criminals above described. This scrutiny will be conducted in three different direo. tions; one line will embrace the Hui-chou and Ch'ao-chou Prefectures; another the Canton Prefecture, and a third the Lien- chou Profeature. The two Districts of Hai-fêng and lu fêng in the Buichou Pre- fecture, as bearing the worst reputation, will be dealt with first, and will be entrast- ed to the sole management of Fang-yao. The Ch'ao-chou expedition will be entrust- ed to Cheng Shao-chung, and the Canton Prefecture will be attended to by Chêng An-pang, Acting Colonel of the Canton re- giment, acting under the Memorialists' orders.

After explaining in considerable detail the system upon which these expeditions will work, the Memorialists conclude with a promise of a report to the Throne upon the progress that is made.

By a Rescript appended to the Decree the proposed arrangements are sauctioned,

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