CO129-429 - Public Offices & Others - 1915 — Page 313

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control of the civil population in each and all of the Crown Colonies in time of war.

6. The Council are of opinion that, while in case of actual invasion or attempted invasion the Common Law may give to the Military Authorities full power to act as they think fit in defence of the Colony irrespective of the Order in

Council; yet in time of war, whether invasion be imminent or

not, powers similar to those with which the General Officer

Commanding the Troops at Hong Kong rightly desired to be invested

are as necessary to the Military Authorities in Crown Colonies as.

to those in the United Kingdom. They are indeed essential

if the competent Military Authority is to be enabled to take

proper precautions against espionage, to subject suspected persons to surveillance, to make preparations for defence, to

prevent material assistance being rendered to the enemy;

and in

general, to take all necessary steps for the defence of the

realm and the security of the state. They see no reason why

any distinction in this regard should be made between the

Crown Colonies and the United Kingdom; and they feel sure that

powers similar to those given under the Defence of the Realm

Act would be as wisely administered by officers abroad as they

have been by those at home.

7. I am to say, therefore, that the Order in Council

appears to be open to objection on three main grounds: firstly,

that it raises difficult and intricate questions of

interpretation, secondly, that it reduces the civil inhabitants

to the status of camp followers; and thirdly, that it gives to

the