(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]
2
uncommunicative, has just left to escort some students to America, and Captain Chiang, Director of the Naval College, who is in touch with Admiral Sah, is at present on holiday at Shanghae.
So I am at a loss where to go for information. Tyler went home at the end of last year, commissioned, I believe, by Tuan Fang to arrange for a British Naval Adviser, and I hear from Rocher that he is now on his way back, and is likely to come here to see the Viceroy on his return. Perhaps he will be able to throw some light on the subject.
The native papers had a report a week or two ago that the Wai-wu Pu thought of engaging a German, but nothing was said to connect this with Nanking. Next time I see the Viceroy I can possibly get the conversation on to Tyler's mission and use this report to sound him on the subject, but he will probably say that nothing has been decided.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[31720]
No. 1.
279
[September 23.]
SECTION 3.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received September 23.) (No. 375.) Sir,
Peking, August 6, 1907. THE Memorial from the Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai, of which a translation is inclosed herewith, describes the steps which are being taken to separate the judicial from the executive system in China, and to inaugurate reforms in the administration of justice which are admittedly intended to pave the way for the eventual abolition of extra-territoriality. Chihli, under its present able and enlightened Viceroy, is naturally selected as the province in which reform experiments can be introduced with the best chance of success, and very considerable progress has undoubtedly been made in educational methods, in police organization, and in other directions. But the Chinese judiciary has undergone no visible improvement, and the efficacy of the experiment now being made has failed in the one case in which we have had occasion to test it. Of the ten foreign plaintiffs to whom the Viceroy refers, one was, I believe, the Captain of a British ship who appeared as complainant against a mutinous crew of Chinese who had been handed over to the Court through His Majesty's Consul-General. The result was so unsatisfactory that I have been obliged to refer the case to the Judge of the Supreme Court, and suggest the desirability of reconsidering the procedure which should be followed in dealing with future cases of the kind.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Extract from the "Feking Gazette" of July 25, 1907.
SUMMARY OF MEMORIAL. BY YUAN SHIH-KAJ, RESPECTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF LAW COURTS AT TIEN-TSIN,
IN a Memorial by the High Court of Justice, which obtained the sanction of the Throne, it was proposed to establish in the provinces High Courts, Local Courts, and Village Courts, each with distinct powers. The purpose to be effected is the gradual separation of our judicial system from the executive, and bringing it into line with that obtaining in constitutionally governed countries. With this in view orders were given to the Tien-tsin Prefect and District Magistrate and graduated law students to draw up Regulations, and the Courts were finally established on the 23rd March. All outstanding cases are now cleared off, and I have the honour to report in detail to your Majesties.
A High Court has been established for Tien-tsin Prefecture, a Local Court for The officers Tien-tsin district, and four Village Courts in Tien-tsin city and suburbs.
of the Courts are men familiar with the working of Courts, the best of the graduated law students returned from Japan, and officers who used to be employed in investigating judicial cases by the Prefects or Magistrates.
In criminal cases the labour of the principal Court is lightened by a preliminary inquiry which gets at the main features of the case.
The men employed in the Courts are obtained by examination. There are clerks who keep the archives and copy out the evidence; writers who receive the plaints of suitors and receive or dispatch correspondence or summonses; and constables, &c., who serve warrants or administer punishments. All three classes are well paid, and prevented from squeezing. The evils formerly arising from witnesses and runners being in the same place, are provided against by having waiting-rooms-first and second class, and women's. There are detention-rooms for unconvicted prisoners who cannot be admitted to hail, where their friends are allowed to visit them or send them
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