CO129-523-6 Criticism of Hong Kong Administration 29-1-1930 - 3-3-1930 — Page 21

6.

21

ત

unfortunately the former is asked to undertake all sorts of

duties, which are not properly speaking police duties at all,

with the result that muddle ensues and serious mistakes are

made. As a concrete example, the Government promulgated,

without enough consultation with expert opinion the

Hong Kong Piracy Ordinance and it fell to this department to

carry out most of the details of the Ordinance. The result

was that shipowners were hardly aware of what was happening

until they found their ships "grilled" out of all recognition.

Protest after protest was made and reference to the findings

of the Piracy Minority Committee, which you have on your

files in London, will illustrate more fully than I need here

detail what happened. The report in question left the

Government cold and it was not until a Chinese River steamer

"grilled" under the Piracy Ordinance, collided with another

craft just outside the harbour and sank with 300 people on

board, who were drowned like rats in a trap, that the officials

most concerned woke up and rescinded the Piracy Ordinance.

The punitive expedition to Bias Bay is an example

of how ill-devised Rear-Admiral Boyle was by the local Government

in carrying out this expedition, which was effected in

cooperation with the Police Department. In this respect I do

not blame the police as much as I do the Government, because

whatever the department's views may have been, the Government

should have known better than to countenance an expedition of

this sort.

Medical Department. I am not properly qualified to

say much about this department, except insofar as it functions

in quarantine matters. Two or three British medical officers

and one or two Chinese are employed in this department; but

it is only within recent years that the Government has paid much

attention to quarantine. Hitherto, they were satisfied with