103
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
improvident in its way of carrying on its be treated, in a sense, as a suspect, to le
business.
JI.E. THE GOVERNOR This is not the only instance. I was told that these chits are simply an example of the losses incur- red.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY--Yes, these losses which were incurred were brought up as one instance of what takes place.
HON. MR. POLLOCK At present the hotel is absolutely anonymous.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY-I did not think it worth while to mention the
name.
treated as untrustworthy in the matter of paying his chits for drinks and he must produce hard cash. The Hongkong Hotel and the King Edward Hotel are very big institutions. As is well known, the Hongkong Hotel
H.E. THE GOVERNOR-You say that the Hongkong Hotel assured you that they never made any bad debts?
HON. MR. POLLOCK-No, I did not say anything of the sort.
H.E. THE GOVERNOR--What exactly did they say?
in
a
I
H.E. THE GOVERNOR I only wished to know what was said.
HON. MR.
POLLOCK-The King HON. MR. POLLOCK It would carry Edward Hotel said, referring to ships more weight or it might carry less weight officers, that the chits were invariably paid if we knew which hotel it was. We as soon as they received their wages. The cannot be expected to give much weight Hongkong Hotel said that their experi- to one hotel having a collection of chits ence under the chit system-save
number of if we do not know what hotel it is. At comparatively infinitesimal all events, it would seem on the face of instances- had been such as to enable then to say that the system has worked well things that that hotel must have given somewhat unwise and reckless credit. and has been a great convenience both to They do not seem to have run their busi-themselves and to their customers, ness on the careful conservative lines of don't suppose anyone in this Council the Hongkong Hotel and the King would be such a child as to suppose that Edward Hotel. These hotels-and as I the Hongkong Hotel has never made bad say I have also spoken to two of the debts. directors of the Hongkong Hotel-appar ently have very decided ideas that they don't want this Bill. What does it come to? We are asked to pass this Bill on that bag of chits which comes from a hotel of which we don't know the name at least, I don't and the name has not been disclosed to the other members of the Council-and we are asked to put that in the scale and to weigh down these two hotels which come out very frankly and show perfectly plainly and clearly what it is they object to the inconvenience which will result from the abolition of the chit system.
It seems to me absurd. It is just like saying that you will pay more attention to an anonymous letter in the newspaper than to two letters signed by two well-known residents of high standing. On this anonymous hotel's collection of chits we are asked, as I sub- mitted in the commencement of my speech to create quite a new class of offence. We are asked to say that although a stranger may come in and get credit at the stores when he goes to the Hongkong Hotel he must put down cash. That stranger, if he is put up as a member of any of the clubs of the Colony, may sign chits there for drinks, but when he comes to a hotel a special distinction is made and he is to
HON. MR. POLLOCK--I hope nothing that I said would give rise to a supposi- tion like that, that the Hongkong Hotel in its life has never had bad debts. Both these hotels say they do not wish for this Bill. Why should we, because of this bag of chits brought forward by a hotel the name of which is not disclosed-why in the name of common-sense should we pass this Bill, putting not only strangers com- ing here but also residents to trouble and inconvenience? As is well-known, a num- ber of residents go to the Hongkong Hotel when there are performances at the theatre. They go to the Hongkong Hotel If and have dinner in the grill-room. they want drinks before dinner they will have to produce cash unless they happen to be residents of the hotel also. It is, therefore, not quite correct to say It that this Bill only affects visitors. will also affect a good number of residents in the Colony. Now we have dropped the consumption of liquor question it all Do the Hongkong Hotel comes to this. and the King Edward Hotel know their business or do they not? They claim to
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
104
know their business pretty well and sayOne director of one hotel said to me that in that this Bill is absolutely unnecessary, his opinion the Bill would not make any hampering, mischievous and vexatious. I earthly difference. In fact they preferred think it is quite clear that no sufficient to get the cash in and save the interest. case has been made out for this Bill. The Hon. Mr. Pollock's argument regard- I put it quite plainly and, adopting the ing strangers that they would come here tanguage of my own profession, if one and be put to inconvenience because their were addressing a Jury one would say ; chits will not be taken was simply grot- Gentlemen of the Jury, we ask you esqu Where in the world, except out upon the evidence to say that the case here, would anyone tender a chit in any for this Bill has not been made out."
bar? I should like to see the face of a bar-tender in Aberdeen or Glasgow if a man offered to sign a chit for his drink. The people who put forward such ridicul- time, and I and another hon. member have ous arguments are merely wasting our been murmuring for some time at the way we have been kept from our own busi- nesses. It has been a storm in a teapot. much ado about nothing.
SHEWAN I did not
Mr.
HON. MR. mean to speak on this Bill at all, because I considered it a very harmless little Bill. I certainly did not expect such floods of eloquence as have been poured forth about such a small matter. The Hon. Pollock says that this is quite obvious and that is quite plain, but is quite obvious that this opposition has been got up by the two hotels who have hired solicitors to speak for them. And it is a very bad case when you have to use bad arguments and especially when you have to go to solicitors to find arguments against any particular question.
H.E. THE GOVERNOR Do you remem- ber a case a very amusing case at the Police Court where two Chinese were had up for some offence. One hired a solici- tor and one did not, The magistrate fined the man without a solicitor $10 and the man with a solicitor $100. The argument apparently was that the man who could afford to pay a solicitor could afford to pay the bigger fine. I beg your pardon for interrupting you, but this was brought to my mind by your
case remarks.
two.
-
HON. MR. SHEWAN I was merely try ing to point out that the arguments of MP. Dodwell and Mr. Pollock are very bad indeed and require the support of two solicitors in this Colony to help them out. I won't go into all the arguments, but will take one or I cannot compare myself with the Hon. Mr. Dodwell and the Hon. Mr. Pollock in most things, but of one thing I know as much as they do, and that is the question of drinking in bars. (Laughter.) I have been longer in the Colony for one thing and I know this- that the argument that men will leave the hotels and go to the clubs for drink as suggested is all nonsense. The men who frequent the bars of hotels are not the men who belong to the clubs at all. The hotels will lose nothing in that way.
H.E. THE GOVERNOR-This matter is really a very simple one. We are dealing with the law under which persons are licensed for the retail sale of intoxicating liquors. That is a very remunerative permission given by the Government, and is one full of responsibility. The per- mission is only given to a certain number under an annual license and the Govern
nent is fully entitled without any notice whatever to review the license or to vary the conditions of the license in anyway it thinks fit. This Bill is brought forward for a very simple reason and object. The why it was not thought necessary to reason goes with the object and that is elaborate the point in the
TE
Objects and Reasons."
The object is to prohibit for sale, except for cash, intoxicating liquors. We are not accustomed, nor are we re- quired, to set out all the arguments we are.going to produce. We did not embark upon this legislation with any grand- motherly or grandfatherly object of restricting the consumption of alcoholic liquors, but our attention has been drawn to very serious irregularities under the existing law. The honourable member who represents the Justices of the Peace seems to have overlooked entirely all the instances except one which the Colonial Secretary gave of irregularity. The Colonial Secretary referred to the case of round drinking far more than was good an individual in this Colony who went for him. If he had had to pay cash he could not have injured his health in the way he did. He absolutely broke down. His friends had to pay his chits, and a paternal Government had to ship him out of the Colony. Why should we be called upon to pay a man's passage out of the
60
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.