406
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 6TH OCTOBER, 1866.
nefarious dealings carried on by Chinese residents here with Pirates, and for that purpose to take care that the Government has in future full information of the equipment and movements of all Chinese Junks visiting the harbor. To complain of such an Ordinance is to complain that Europeans are not willing to be robbed and murdered by Chinese miscreants; and I tell you frankly that I shall pay no attention to such unreasonable remonstrances. I shall continue to do my duty, as Governor of an English Settlement and shall, to the utmost of my power, (endeavor to rid this Colony of the stigma affixed to it by the numerous Chinese Thieves and Pirates who infest it.) Fortunately there is also a still more numerous body of hardworking and trustworthy Chinese Residents, and I look to them for important assistance in dealing with their Countryinen. How absurd your objections are reckoned even by your own Countrymen will more fully appear when I tell you that, a person, who understands the Chinese character and customs perfectly, heartily approves of the measure, and even thinks that some of its provisions should be more stringent. I think you will admit that his opinion on such a subject ought to carry weight with Chinese when I tell you he was no other than His Excellency the Governor General of the Provinces of Kwantung and Kwangsai.
I might decline to go further into your objections to Police Laws in reference to which you have only one duty, namely, that of obedience; but I wish to serve you and cannot do so more effectually than by correcting misapprehensions, which are unreasonably disquieting some industrious and well disposed persons.
Thus your complaint that Chinese vessels must report on entering and leaving the harbor is simply a complaint that at last we put you on the same footing as Europeans--who even in their own Country have to make full reports on entering and leaving a harbor, whether they enter once or a hundred times in a year. (It is a regulation intended to protect peaceful and honest traders by affording some guarantee of the legitimate character of the vessels which frequent the Port--and before long I hope to see it adopted at all Chinese Ports in these Seas. What other mode is there of getting the information required? (Therefore, in the face of the shocking piracies recently committed by vessels fitted out by residents of this City, I would regard your ebjections as discreditable and in bad taste if I thought you fully understood their tendency.)
In the same way I observe that you regard as onerous the slight Duty cast on you in aiding to preserve the peace and health of a City, in which there are fifty Chinese to one European. Is it a hard thing if the Queen's Government should expect those, who live under the British Flag, to assist in maintaining order?
It is impossible that Europeans can know the character of your Countrymen as well as you do, and therefore it is right and natural that we should expect each Chinese Househo’der to take some trouble in learning a little about his lodgers. In your own Country you would be hel! responsible for the conduct of persons inhabiting your houses, and frequently for the conduct of all members of your family, when guilty of any crime, whether residing with you or at a distance.
As for the security asked, it is only required from non-resident Owners of houses and need not be rendered burthensome. It is right there should be some security against their houses becoming in their absence the resort of thieves and bad characters.
I equally regard as untenable your objection to the registration of Servants employed by Europeans, a prudent precaution where so many robberies have been planned by Servants, and one which must be an advantage to all Servants that conduct themselves well. Morcover, when you speak of a payment of 25 cents for a Registration Certificate, which, (in the absence of any improper conduct by the Servant) might last 20 years, as "always fining and driving Servants to prison," you must admit that you have not taken the trouble to study the Ordinance.
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The same observation applies to your assertion that any law has been passed imposing a "tax on Cattle and Pigs. There has been no tax whatever imposed on either, but it has been provided that in future you shall not keep pigs within the limits of this town. I am sorry, if this Regulation interferes with the comfort of the Chinese some of whom I have observed with their children living in filthy cellars and dens along with pigs. Nevertheless this is an English City and not a Chinese town. I am therefore bound to establish English cleanliness in it, if possible, both as a sign of civilisation, and as a measure especially necessary in this climate-and in districts so densely built over as the principal Chinese quarter.
The number of pigs bred in the town, though sufficient in some places to pollute the atmosphere and sewerage, cannot sensibly affect the price of pork, which is almost entirely supplied from th
Mainland.
you
therein.
You must therefore make such arrangements as you best can-and I hope to assist Even in the matter of occasional visits from the Health Officer, I cannot fairly make a distinction between you and Europeans. I must however admit that I hear with surprise and regret, that yea think it possible any Officer discharging a duty under this Government, could do so in a ru manner, or so as to wound unnecessarily the feelings of residents-especially "women. Keep your houses clean, and free from bad smells, and try that your neighbors shall do the same.
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