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law of that Colony. But the Resolution was not limited to that class of cases, but was intended to apply generally and to make unlawful any conspiracy involving a transgression of the laws of another part of the Empire relating to com- merce, e.g., Pure Foods Acts, Secret Commissions Act, Customs and Tariff Acts, &c. The growth of inter-imperial commerce made it increasingly necessary that the commercial and other laws of each part should be made thoroughly effective.
On the receipt of this despatch telegrams were addressed to the Governors of Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements asking for a full report whether legislation was, in their opinion, desirable to prevent acts of conspiracy to defeat the Immi- gration Restriction Act of Australia.
Replies by telegram and despatch have been received from both Governments. The Governor of the Straits reports that during the last three years, 1908, 1909, and 1910, according to figures given to him by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth, thirty-two Chinese have been discovered attempting to enter Australia illicitly by steamer from Singapore. He has, however, received replies from the agents of the steam-ship lines which trade from the Colony to Australian ports, and only three cases can be traced involving altogether twenty-four stowaways. Only one of these cases occurred in 1910, and every effort is already made by the agents and officers of the ships to prevent stowing away in view of the heavy penalties to which they are subjected if Asiatics are found on board in Australian waters.
A notice was circulated in July 1909 among the Chinese of the Colony, warning them of the restrictions on the immigration of Chinese into Australia. Stowaways are liable to a fine of 200 dollars or four weeks' imprisonment, and the- Governor is prepared to ask the Legislature to increase the penalties for stowing away, but he points out that the policy of Australia in excluding Chinese is entirely repugnant to the whole community, European as well as Asiatic.
Any measure directly aimed at making criminal an attempt to evade the Australian Immigration Act would be opposed by the Legislative Council, would be forced through by the votes of official members, and would be followed by a boycott of Australian trade at Singapore, with which it It should not be would be difficult to deal.
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forgotten that a boycott of Australian trade might easily develop into a boycott of British trade, a state of affairs of which the numerous and influential body of foreign merchants in Singapore would not be slow to take advantage. Moreover, any legislation in Singapore might be evaded by
a transfer to Java ports, as all ships to Australia from Singapore call at Java ports.
The Governor of Hong Kong reports that, in the opinion of his Attorney-General, there already exists sufficient legislation to deal with the offence
of conspiring to evade the Immigration Restriction Act of Australia. He states that in 1904 it was held by the Supreme Court that there was no power to convict persons for conspiring in Hong Kong to evade the Immigration Laws of Australia, and the Chief Justice gave it as his opinion that
no indictment would lie for the conspiracy to defraud the steam-ship company, as there was no intention to evade payment of the fares. The Attorney-General is, however, of opinion that proceedings could have been taken at common law for conspiring to commit a crime made punish- able by section 78 of Ordinance 5 of 1865 which makes a person guilty of felony "who falsely and deceitfully personates any person with intent fraudulently to obtain any chattel." This section would, in his opinion, make it criminal to purchase the naturalization papers of another person (this being one method of evading the Immigration Law of Australia, as persons natural- ised in Australia are exempt in certain circum- stances from the Immigration Law).
Moreover, in the case of offences by stowing away adequate penalties are provided for the stowaway land for persons aiding and abetting him in stowing himself away. The Attorney- General, however, has suggested the passing of special legislation to make the position perfectly clear.
The Governor states also that the Colony would gladly co-operate in any workable scheme for a general law which may be agreed upon at the Imperial Conference. He has been informed that the proposed Bill with regard to fraudulent emigration should not be brought forward for the present.
The proposed Resolution has been communicated to the Home Office, the Board of Trade, and the Local Government Board. The Local Govern-
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