230
No. 21.
7-
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 2ND JUNE, 1866.
THE MAGISTRACY, 17th May, 1860.
SIR,-It is with much regrat that we feel ourselves compelled, after due consideration, to call your special attention to the matter contained in certain passages of the Report of the Commissioners recently appointed by His Excellency the Governor to inquire into tlie existence of an Epidemic in the Colony stated to be Yellow Fever, which appeared in the Government Gazette of Saturday, the 19th instant.
We refer to the statements reported to have been made by Mr. Ellis, Inspector of Nuisances.
That Mr. Ellis had, while under examination thought proper to call in question the discretion which the Magistrates had exercised in the issuing of Sunamonses, and in the amount of penalties which were inflicted on conviction, we were already aware. But, considering that such allegations were among the class of privileged communications, and not upon oath, it was deemed advisable by us to take no official notice of them.
The position of affairs, however, is materially altered when the allegations are embodied in an Official Document, and the case assumes a still graver aspect when that Document is made a public one.
Holding these views, we think that unless some notice is taken by us the Report will continue a standing charge, which if unnoticed would appear to be unanswerable, of the inefliciency of the Magistrates for the time being in dealing with the class of offences referred to,-the suppression of which affects, more or less, the whole Community.
We cannot conceal our surprise that the Members who formed the Commission, one of them, too, being an Officer of the Civil Government, should have gone so far as to accept unquestioned Mr. Ellis' statement contained in the last sentence of the second paragraph of his evidence.
Ordinary courtesy, we should think, would have dictated an application to this Court for the verification or otherwise of a charge made against the Magistrates by an Inspector of Police.
Mr. Ellis' evidence, however, unconfirmed and uncorroborated is published, and is virtually accepted by the Commissioners as containing the prime reason for the dirty state of certain portions of the City.
It is not for us to comment on the propriety of the Commissioners in allowing an Inspector of Police to censure the Magistrates as is done in this case, but we cannot refrain from expressing our opinion that if Inspectors of Police are to be permitted to make such charges against the Magistrates, and no steps be taken to require them to prove their statements, not only will our Court be brought into contempt, but discipline will be at an end, and the anomaly will arise of the discretion of the Magistrates being guaged by the opinions of the Inspectors of Police.
We shall, however, avail ourselves of this opportunity to give an unqualified denial to the statement made by Mr. Ellis that there is a difficulty in obtaining Summonses. From the Return enclosed it will be seen that, since the 1st of January, 1866, 1,073 Summonses have been issued at the complaint of Mr. Ellis, and that fines to the amount of about $500 have been imposed by the Magistrates; how in the teeth of this Mr. Ellis has the hardihood to state that he is "unable to do his duty," we confess we are at a luss to conceive.
Had the Report been intended for the Executive Government alone we could not, unasked, have called attention to it; but when it becomes an Official and public Document which will go home to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, besides being published in the local papers, we feel ourselves bound to protest against the charges made against us, and beg that the proper steps may be taken to lay the facts in a true light before the Home Authorities.
It only remains for us to request that you, Sir, will be good enough to lay this letter before the Governor. His Excellency will at orce perceive the unpleasant situation in which we are placed in consequence of the publicity given to the charges made against us by Mr. Ellis; particularly, as by the publication of his evidence in the Gazette these charges have apparently received the sanction of the Government.
We feel that these accusations are unmerited; we have, to the best of our ability, endeavoured tc discharge our duties, and we very respectfully claim trom His Excellency the means of publicly refuting charges which are as serious as they are unwarranted.We have, &c.,
The Honorable W. T. MERCER,
&c., &c., &c.
(Signed)
JOHN C. WHYTE. CECIL C. SMITH,
Statement of Parties Summoned to the Police Magistrates Court, charged with permitting Dirt, and offensive matter to remain exposed in the immediate vicinity, &c., of their dwellings.
No. 306.
NUMBER OF PERSONS.
MONTH.'
Summoned. Appeared. Discharged.
Fined.
January
144
140
16
February
77
72
11
March...
133
131
April. May
410
389
303
293
39
9288
124
61
72
59
80
309
254
Total.
1,073
1,025
218
807
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE, HONGKONG, 19th May, 1866.
GENTLEMEN,-In reply to your letter No. 21 of 17th instant, I am directed to explain that His Excellency the Governor, when directing the publication of the report of the Commission, had not intended to publish the evidence appended thereto, and its publication was the result of an oversight during the press of business at the closing of last Mail.
His Excellency is glad to perceive from the return which you have sent that the proportion of cases in which thought proper to apply the existing law has lately increased.
you
bare
His Excellency sent for Mr. Ellis that he might explain his statements made to the Commission, and he has repeated that Mr. Whyte has more than once objected to his bringing before the Bench so many poor persons, and that he was
thereby discouraged from doing his duty.
He has also explained that although the number of fines inflicted appears large, the amounts in almost all instances Gre extremely small.
He states that in consequence of recent increased severity on the part of the Magistrates, the lower classes of Chinese are beginning to take more pains in keeping their premises clean.
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