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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 11TH JUNE, 1881.
9. In his opinions, dated the 6th and 7th of February, 1877, Mr. PHILLIPPO, the Attorney Gener- al, differs from Šir ARTHUR KENNEDY, and recommends that the value of the Junk and opium should
Mr. PHILLIPPO says:- be returned to the former owners.
"The question is whether the Government should take advantage, under the circum- "stances, of the very heavy penalty imposed for omitting to obtain a port clearance. * * * "If she had obtained a port clearance before leaving Hongkong Harbour, although bound on a smuggling expedition, she would not have been liable to forfeiture under the Ordinance. *** I do not think such a penalty should be imposed until such transactions (smuggling "opium into China) are declared unlawful."
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CE
10. I am always unwilling, especially in a legal question, to differ from my Attorney General, but in this case Mr. PHILLIPPO seems to have overlooked the fact that it was not a mere unintentional omission to get a port clearance, but a deliberate violation of the Ordinance; and furthermore, he says nothing of the equally serious breach of the law committed by the Junk Master in quitting the Harbour after nightfall.
11. Nor does Mr. PHILLIPPO appear fully to realize the evil consequences to this community of the Hongkong Government allowing its own laws to be violated with impunity by these opium smugglers. Mr. CREAGH, the Acting Captain Superintendent of Police, tells me that this system has already tended to revive the practice of petty piracies, as the Junks engaged in this night smuggling hang about the Harbour week after week, and when they cannot effect their object, take to robbery instead.
12. When, therefore, the time came for me to determine whether the value of the Junk and opium should or should not be returned to the former owner, I gave instructions that his attention should be called to the provisions of the Ordinance he had violated, and that he should be informed that the Hongkong Government would not return the value of the Junk and opium to him.
13. The proceeds have, accordingly, been paid into the Colonial Treasury. Of course, if the Master of the Junk should appeal to the Courts of Law against my decision, I shall afford him every facility for doing so.
The Right Honourable
THE EARL OF CARNARVON,
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor.
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
St.,
Sc.,
fe.
GOVERNOR HENNESSY, C.M.G, TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CARNARVON.
No. 39.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 21st June, 1877.
MY LORD,-With reference to my despatch, No. 32 of the 11th instant, reporting the policy I have adopted in cases of attempted opium smuggling in which it may be established to my satisfaction that the smuggler has violated the local Ordinance No. 6 of 1866, I have the honour to lay before Your Lordship the enclosed copy of a Petition from a Junk owner named CHAN A-YAU, a native of the province of Fokien, asking the Hongkong Government to obtain for him sixty-one packages of opium which, he alleges, were taken from his Junk outside the boundaries of the Colony, but after the Junk had been seized in Hongkong waters and towed into Chinese waters by a Chinese Revenue Cruiser.
2. Subsequent statements (copies of which are also enclosed) made by the Petitioner give a somewhat different version of the alleged outrage. Seeing that these statements appeared to disclose a deliberate breach of the Hongkong laws, I directed them to be referred to the Harbour Master, with the following minute:-
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"Before proceeding further, refer these papers to the Harbour Master, who will be good enough to say,-1st, whether the Petitioner, according to his own statements, was complying with the laws and regulations of the Harbour. 2ndly, what trustworthy evidence there is that, on this occasion, a "Chinese Revenue Cruiser seized or searched a Junk within the waters of this Colony."
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