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The COLONIAL SECRETARY replied as follows It is the general practice to report specially to the Secretary of State for the Colonies a case in which the unanimous or nearly unanimous vote of the unofficial members of the Legis lative Council has been defeated by the vote of the official members. Buch re- ports contain, where necessary, a state- ment explanatory of the reason for the official vote. A search through the Hansard reports of a number of years shows that there have been one or two exceptions, as, for instance, at the follow- ing pages:-1907, page 38; 1911, page 117; 1911 page 235; 1912, page 102.
It is intended that the premises of the Deutche Asiatische Bank, and all other immovable property in the Colony of Hongkong belonging to German firms which are being wound up under the Alien Enemies (Winding-up) Ordinances, 1914 to 1917, shall be sold by public anction within the course of the next 4 months.
It is proposed that all the sales shall be advertised for a period of 3 months, and that the sale of the premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank shall also be If the readvertised for that period. latter property were sold at a few days' notice intending purchasers might be greatly inconvenienced and embarrassed, As they may have to obtain instructions from the United Kingdom or elsewhere.
RETURN OF THE GERMANS.
Hon. Mr. P. H. HOLYOax, in accord ing with notice of motion, moved the following resolution :-
"It is the opinion of this Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hongkong that persons of German nationality should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least 10 years follow ing the declaration of peace; and that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict licence."
In doing so ho said-Sir, I rise to make the following motion standing in
my name :-
It is the opinion of the Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hongkong that persons of German nationality, should be exclud- ed therefrom for a period of at least ten years following the declaration of
Peace; and, that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict Licence."
In speaking to the motion, and because I am most anxious to avoid anything in the nature of exaggeration on so import- ant and far-reaching a matter as this, I crave the indulgence of your Excel- lency and this Council if I make rather Free reference to notes
At the outset, I would say that we do not presume to dictate to the Home Government on a question which affects all parts of our wide-flung Empire, but, it is only a few days since your Excel- lency called attention in a meeting of the Legislative Council to the not wholly un- efforts of this Colony to worthy
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these and that cur large annual military contribution entitle us, at any rate, to indicate our wishes to the Home Government, and, with all deference, I believe that such a pronouncement will be welcomed by them for guidance when the whole question comes up for decision.
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Australia, Canada and New Zealand have, I believe, already indicated their
uncertain manner, wishes in no Hongkong with its great commercial interests surely cannot be excluded, es pecially when it is remembered that at the forthcoming Imperial Conference. whilst the Dominions have their own representativea. Hongkong, with other Crown Colonies, will be represented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It is noteworthy that in recent speeches made by prominent world politicians an attempt is made to draw a line of demarcation between the German Gov ernment and the German people, and there is only too much cause to fear that directly peace has been declared we shall hear on all sides that it was the Prussians who made the war and that we have no quarrel with the peaceful Teutons,
Sir, the spirit which on the outbreak of war led to the disgraceful attacks in Berlin upon the Russian, French, and, especially, the British Embassies and compelled our Ambassador to slink out of Berlin in the grey dawn, leat his party be attacked ere departure; to the invasion of Belgium, with its attendant coll-Fluoded atrocities, as "a Military Leccssary ia defiance of
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tralies; and, later, to the murder of women and children on land and ses whilst German officers and men looked on and jeered; and, later still, to the starvation and torture of wounded and helpless prisoners-of-war-this spirit is not the product of the war, but is the Prussian spirit which permeates the whole German nation-man, woman and child- and which will take years to eradicate, and we say that the people who can rejoice over nameless crimes, such as these, who revel in the pernicious doctrine that might is right" and that necessity justifies any crime, however damnable in the eyes of the world it may be, and who can celebrate such an atrocious act as the sinking of the Lusitania by declaring a public school holiday, to say nothing of the deliberate murder of Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt and countless other horrors, are not fit to be received hereafter into the brotherhood of Nations until they have expiated their crimes against God and civilization and truly reformed their
WAYA,
Speaking for the Mercantile Com- manity of Hongkong, which has by far the largest stake in the Colony, I say that we have no desire to be indeed, that we will not be, if it can be avoided --associated in this Colony, either social- and ly or commercially, with men women who thus far have failed to realize what honour, justice and mercy mean, who acknowledge neither Inter- national obligations nor treaty unless they stand to gain by doing so, and in whose nature there is no chord which vibrates to the claims of either,
A close study of the causes which led up to this terrible war and of Germany's deliberate acts thus far will convince auyers who is not blind to the truth that they are the inevitable result of the pernicious teaching of her professors and philosophers during the last two de- cades, and of the military and navaj ambitions which were fostered by her ruler til the present Armageddon was the climax.
Beyond all this, and as an argument which more particularly affects the welfare of Hongkong, I have no hesite tion in saying that the results of the German liquidations have abundantly proved that we are better without the Germans in trade, and that the vast
business they created to our disadvan- tage was the result of a most pernicious credit system which did infinite harm to the Colony and which, when the Germans were interned, left an aftermath of evil in the shape of huge accumulations of stocks, which the market could not pos sibly digest and which took months of weary efforts to disperse, whilst British trade languished in proportion and is still doing so.
With the internment of our enemies, the trade of the port, by common con gent, and thanks to the energy of the Chamber of Commerce, was once more placed upon a cash basis. I will not
weary you with concrete examples, but I say, unhesitatingly and without fear of contradiction, that the trade of the Colony is to-day in a healthier state than for years past, and in the name of British trade interests I plead with you that Germans shall not be allowed to return to the Colony for at least ten
year to recommence their Prussian tactics" in trade which did the Colony so much injury in the past.
Further, I cannot help feeling that we have delayed too long in giving Ching a lead in this connection, and that bold declaration of Our views may strengthen her own and inspire her to join the Allies whole-heartedly in declar- ing war upon the enemies of progress and induce her to intern or banish those within her boundaries; the more so when she recalls the fact that this same Prussian spirit unblushingly reveals itself in the Kaiser's instructions to his troops during the Boxer Rebellion "to show
the quarter and to teach Chinese the might of Germany's military fist and never to look askance at a Ger- man and which is commemorated by the Ketteler memorial" in Peking.
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In conclusion, and lest it he urged that we have overlooked possible Ger- man competition from new centres to the detriment of Hongkong. let it be said that, while we recognize such com- petition may arise, we are convinced is can be successfully met and are pre- pared to face it, especially when it is remembered that German firms are un- likely for years to come to receive the great assistance they did from British banks and discount bouses in London in pre-war days and, I hope, will never do again.
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