CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900 — Page 473

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Chief Justice and Consul Gener-

al Rennie asked to be furnish-

ed with general instructions

as to the care and custody of

lunatics within the jurisdic-

tion of the Supreme Court, and

as to their removal, when neces-

sary, to Hongkong or to the

United Kingdom, he was informed

under date of July 14th 1887,

that, unless in his discretion

such a course should in any

particular case appear to him

to be undesirable,

"Persons adjudged to be

lunatics by order of the Su-

"preme Court at Shanghae should

be sent home to this country"

This rule, although worded

in somewhat general terms, was

clearly meant to apply only to

British subjects domiciled in

the United Kingdom, and not to

persons whose domicil is a Bri-

ti sh colony. It was stated in

the correspondence which passed

in 1886 that Edward Wallace was

born, and had been residing, at

Hongkong, and that he had only

gone to Shanghae in search of eni-

ployment. There seems there fore

to be no doubt that he was at

that time domiciled in the colony.

It appears to Lord Salisbury that

prima facie the liability to

maintain a native of Hongkong

nust rest with the municipal au-

thorities of Hongkong rather than

with the municipal authorities of

the United Kingdom, and His Lord-

clearly

ship

į