CO129-314 - Public Offices - 1902 — Page 392

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procedure whereby his own confession was necessary to

t

his punishment did not obtain.

magistrate did not conceal his satisfaction at hav-

ing at last secured their arrest.

I would call

special attention to a remark made by this official

at the trial of the two prisoners.

Their admis-

sion of so many crimes made the production of evi-

dence unnecessary.

It transpired, however, in the

case of Kuan Kuel Hung that he denied having taken

part in the piracy of the Chên Ch'uan Kuan San 11-

censed passenger boat, one of the two charges upon

which his extradition had been granted. On receiv-

ing his denial, the Magistrate informed him that

according to Hongkong law he could be punished for

his crime on the strength of the evidence, and that

his own confession was therefore unnecessary

This statement of the Namho1 Magistrate's in

open Court was so thorough an acceptation of the

principle insisted upon as a result of the "Perse-

verance' case that I at once addressed the prisoner

in the same sense and explained to him that, having

been extradited from Hongkong, the ordinary proce-

The Magistrate, however, still appeared anxious

to secure Kuan Kuei Hung's admission to this particu-

lar offence;

but,

on my informing him that I was

quite satisfied with his confession to the second

charge upon which he had been extradited and to so

many other crimes, he allowed the matter to drop.

On the 7th instant I again attended the Magis-

trate's Yamên, when the charges against the prisoners

which they had admitted at the first hearing were

read over to them in the presence of the Viceroy's

Deputy. They both admitted their guilt and were

sentenced to decapitation.

The sentence was carried out on the 28th in-

stant in the presence of the Namho1 Magistrate and

myself. Both criminals were strong and healthy and

free from the influence of drugs.

that no attempt at torture was made.

I am satisfied

This is the first trial of extradition prisoners

since His Excellency the Viceroy consented to adopt,

in

dure