CO129-402 - Governor Sir May - 1913 [7-8] — Page 21

*CONFIDENTIAL.

CO 26004

-19

A3

3 JUL 13

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONGKONG. 4th. July, 1913.

sir,

to.26126/12

300byland. of September last I reported that I had found it necessary

In my Confidential Despatches of the 18th. July

#

to relieve the overcrowding in Victoria Gaol by the release of a

number of prisoners undergoing short sentences of confinement. In spite of these reductions in the Gaol population the daily average

number of prisoners confined in the Gaol during 1912 was 701. In- -stead of the diminution which I hoped for in my Despatch of the

2nd. of September, the Gaol population for the first 6 months of

the current year shows an increase over that for the first half

year of 1912. The figures for the former period are 734 and for the

latter 670.

The increase in the current year is largely due to the amendment of the definition of Opium Divan. The other day there were no less than 60 prisoners in Caol who with the exception of a few keepers of Opium Divans had been committed for the offence

of smoking in a Divan.

The other contributing factors to the large

increase in the population of the Gaol are the increase in the

population of the Colony owing to the influx of Chinese, the unrest in China which has added greatly to our criminal population, and the

alterations in the Banishment Ordinance which necessitate the

detention in Gaol of many persons pending enquiries into their

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LEWIS HARCOURT, H.P.,

&c.,

&C...

cases.