CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900 — Page 670

transferred to Hong Kong from the Consular jail in

Shanghae in 1885, and the Secretary of State for the

Colonies expressed the opinion at the time that

the Consul in sending the man to Hong Kong had

exceeded his powers. This view appeared to be

justified by the fact that the father of the lunatic

who was then residing at Shanghae was in possession

of an income sufficient to make suitable provision

for the care of his son. An instruction was accord-

ingly addressed to Her Majesty's Minister at Peking

requesting him to make a communication to the Con-

sul at Shanghae in this sense and to consult with

the Crown Advocate of the Supreme Court as to the

proper method of providing for the lunatic's main-

tenance. No further report on the case of Edward

Wallace has been received until now, and Lord Salis-

bury remains in ignorance as to the exact circum-

stances of his discharge from the Hongkong asylum,

and return to Shanghae.

When, at a later period, Chief Justice and Consul General

Rennie asked to be furnished with general instruc-

*

instructions as to the care and custody of

lunatics

660

within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and as

to their removal, when necessary, 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

"Supreme Court at Shanghae should be sent home to

"this country

terms

This rule, although worded in somewhat general

>

It was

was clearly meant to apply only to British subjects domiciled in the United Kingdom, and not to

persons whose domicil is a British colony. shown in the correspondence which passed in 1886 that Edward Wallace was the illegitimate son, born in 1862 at Hongkong of Thomas Wallace, a British subject, and

a Chinese woman, and left Hongkong at the age of ten with his parents; proceeding first to Yokohama and later (1878) to Shanghae, where, soon after, he began

It appears to Lord

to show symptaes of lunacy.

tions

Salisbury

į