CO129-239 - Governor Des Voeus Acting Governor Stewart - 1888 [9-12] — Page 11

and I conclu

suggest his retirement on

the ground of ill health.

Reust out 24

I think I Deane has been

throughout

this affair, though the fovomer has probably gone too far in charging him with making distractions

biliseen Chinese &uropean.

Proceed an

on to Wingfield suppe to, but begun the Despatele by saying that after full consideration

of the case

aspor fenerally the fovermons action, & that I consider to Deane in deserving of blame

0.0 20323

9

both for

his having to.

*płojsjnu płot

K25/10

*sudom ap uoXpg

fique a NS

"UOJSUDA¶ "W

"MaybuṛM W

*4][

*ԼՈՒIW

A

W

No. 261.

Enclosure 1.

22nd August, 1888.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONGKONG, 3rd September, 1888.

MY LORD,

I have the honour to forward for Your Lordship's consideration a Memorial addressed to you by Mr. DEANE, the Captain Superintendent of Police of this Co- lony, complaining of certain Minutes of mine referring to him.

2. In the second paragraph of this Memorial, under the heads (a), (b), (c) and (d) Mr. DEANE has given his account of the events which preceded the first of these impugned Minutes, which account. I append in a note for greater convenience of reference, and in order to render the following comments more readily intelli- gible.*

3. As to (a), I have merely to remark that though there is no doubt as to the fact of Sergeant SHEIK ALIM having been deserted by a Chinese woman who had been living with him, there is no evidence beyond the mere statement of the Sergeant that she was his lawful wife, or that she took with her any property belonging to the Sergeant (the value of this being here stated at 1,100 dollars, and in the speech of his Counsel at 1,600 dollars); moreover that if the woman was his lawful wife the case was one of those where the determination of the ownership of property taken is very difficult, and one which would therefore probably have afforded no justification for a search warrant, much less for a search without

warrant.

* (a.) The lawful wife, a Chinawoman, of Police Sergeant SHEIK ALIM eloped taking with her property of her busband valued at $1,100. (b.) Sergeant SHEIK ALIM of his own notion, acting ou information that he believed to be correct, but taking with him one Chinese Officer in uniform and one in plain clothes and he himself being in uniform, went without warrant to the shop and house, (which are the same) of Mr. Li KWONG CHI, & Draper, in whose employ was a shopman named LEUNG KING who was believed by Sergeant SHEIK ALIM to be the seducer of his wife, and her coufederate in stealing his property. This shop and house he searched, and he brought the (e) On the 25th July the shopman to the Charge Room where the charge was refused and he was released. shopkeeper forwarded to me a petition of complaint, this is a duplicate of the one forwarded on the same date to the Registrar General which forms the first document of the enclosures. This petition I forwarded to the Inspector on duty for a report which I received; and I then made some verbal inquiries which put me in possession of the gencral outline of the case. a.) The impression produced on my mind was, that the case was one that could be most properly dealt with, in the first instance, by the Civil Court of Summary Jurisdiction, as that court would, if ou the evidence Sergeant SHEIK ALJM was found to blame, be able to award Mr. LI KWONG CHI damages for ordinary civil trespass or damages for trespass as a Felice Oflicer. Mr. LI KWONG CHI was therefore informed to that elect.

The Right Honourable

LORD KNUTSFORD, G.C.M.G.,

&G.,

&c.