THE COLONY OF HONG KONG
181
freely with all the men under his command; cultivating, moreover, the confidence of them all, and seeing that distinguished fidelity and efficiency are liberally rewarded; who shall be proud of his position, and feel that his own happiness and honour are identified with his success;-give me such a superintendent and such a force, and I will undertake that in a few years crime shall be as rare as in any city at home, while the expense of the department will be very considerably reduced.
—
It is thought, I know, by many that my views on this subject are visionary and Utopian derived from my acquaintance with Chinese literature more than from acquaintance with the Chinese people. I will only say that during many years of my long residence here, my intercourse was quite as much with the people as with their books. Several hours of every day were spent in visiting them from house to house, and shop to shop, conversing with them on all subjects, and trying to get them to converse with me on one subject. When I went home in 1867, I could say that, excepting the brothels, there was hardly a house in Victoria and the villages in which I had not repeatedly been, and where I was not known as a friend. I am confident of this, that, keep away the calamity of another war with China, my views as to the constitution of the police force will be the prevailing views of the Colony, and acted on by its Government.
Having said thus much about the police force, let me say further that I think that that department is at present, in 1872, in a better and more efficient state than it ever was. Let me give expression also to a protest against the doctrine which I have sometimes heard and read, that our laws are too lenient for the Chinese population which we try to govern by them. By all means let the treatment of crime be deterrent; but that we must institute a new code of penalties taken from Chinese or other barbarous practice is an outrageous suggestion, the birth of reckless thoughtlessness, or of minds soured from their own distemperature. But the laws of the Colony should be fully made known to the Chinese population. This is a work that yet remains to be done, the preparation of a clear, distinct, intelligible translation of most of our statutes, purchasable by the inhabitants at a small price.
THE COLONY OF HONG KONG
181
freely with all the men under his command; cultivating, more- over, the confidence of them all, and seeing that distinguished fidelity and efficiency are liberally rewarded; who shall be proud of his position, and feel that his own happiness and honour are identified with his success;-give me such a superintendent and such a force, and I will undertake that in a few years crime shall be as rare as in any city at home, while the expense of the department will be very considerably reduced.
—
It is thought, I know, by many that my views on this subject are visionary and Utopian derived from my acquaintance with Chinese literature more than from acquaintance with the Chinese people. I will only say that during many years of my long residence here, my intercourse was quite as much with the people as with their books. Several hours of every day were spent in visiting them from house to house, and shop to shop, conversing with them on all subjects, and trying to get them to converse with me on one subject. When I went home in 1867, I could say that, excepting the brothels, there was hardly a house in Victoria and the villages in which I had not repeatedly been, and where I was not known as a friend. I am confident of this, that, keep away the calamity of another war with China, my views as to the constitution of the police force will be the prevailing views of the Colony, and acted on by its Government.
Having said thus much about the police force, let me say further that I think that that department is at present, in 1872, in a better and more efficient state than it ever was. Let me give expression also to a protest against the doctrine which I have sometimes heard and read, that our laws are too lenient for the Chinese population which we try to govern by them. By all means let the treatment of crime be deterrent; but that we must institute a new cede of penalties taken from Chinese or other barbarous practice is an outrageous suggestion,, the birth of reckless thoughtlessness, or of minds soured from their own distemperature. But the laws of the Colony should be fully made known to the Chinese population. This is a work that yet re- mains to be done, the preparation of a clear, distinct, intelligible translation of most of our statutes, purchasable by the inhabitants at a small price.
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