Sessional_Paper_1892 — Page 233

229

No.

19

92

HONGKONG.

REGISTRAR GENERAL'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1891.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, on the 25th April, 1892.

REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE,

HONGKONG, 2nd April, 1892.

SIR,In accordance with the instructions of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, contained in Despatch No. 296 of 1890, to the effect that the Registrar General should furnish an annual report on the work of his &partment in general and on the Women and Girls' Protection Ordinance in particular, I have the honour to forward herewith my report for the year 1891.

I have had some difficulty in drawing up this report, for, not to speak of the multifarious nature of the duties which this department has to perform, regular annual reports, which might have served as models to be followed on this occasion, were not made by any of my predecessors in office. The absence of such reports explains why it has been necessary, even at the risk of being tedious, to discuss in detail matters, which might have been treated more generally, had they been annually reported on in the same manner as have been the affairs of other departments.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE.

The cost of the establishment of the Registrar General in 1891 was $22,765.79. The Revenue collected by the Department amounted to $76,177.11. A comparative statement of the Revenue of this Department for the years 1890 and 1891 together with a detailed statement of the revenue derived from boats and markets is contained in Table I. From this statement, it will be seen that the total Revenue for 1891 was $76,177.11 as compared with $69,038.58 in 1890, showing an increase last year of $7,138.53. The chief increase was in the revenue derived from the markets, the rents for 1891 showing an increase of $9,354.33 over those for 1890, which is chiefly due to the general rise made in the rents of the market holdings at the end of 1890. The large decrease, $3,557, in the revenue received from hawkers is more apparent than real, being due to a change made in the system of collecting the fees for hawkers' licences. On the 1st October, 1890, hawkers who took out licences had to pay a year's fees in advance instead of a quarterly fee as formerly, so that the year 1890 was credited with these yearly fees in addition to the fees for the three quarters previous to October, when the new system came into force. The number of hawkers' licences issued in 1890 was 2,267, and in 1891, 2,171, so that there is only a difference between the two years of 96 licences, representing fees to the amount of $192, the yearly fee being $2 for each licence. The total number of licences of various kinds issued during the year 1891 was 6,770 as compared with 6,530 in 1890. The holders of almost all licences have to find security, and it requires a considerable amount of time and labour to make the necessary enquiries regarding the sureties to complete the usual bonds.

WOMEN AND GIRLS' PROTECTION ORDINANCE (11 OF 1890).

I am glad to be able to report that The Women and Girls' Protection Ordinance, which came into force on the 1st of April, 1891, has proved successful and has justified the anticipations formed regarding the effect which it would have in helping to check the evils with which it is specially concerned. Under Part I., which deals with the abduction, selling, pledging, &c. of women and girls for the purpose of emigra tion, &c., 20 prosecutions were instituted involving 25 persons (see Table II). In these cases 5 of the defendants were discharged, 3 were called upon to find security, and 17 were found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for various terms varying from one month to four years, the latter sentence being passed in a case before the Supreme Court.

The number of prosecutions might have been larger had it not been for the difficulties in the way of procuring evidence, owing to the unwillingness of many of the women and girls in the first instance to state the true facts of their case, through fear of those under whose power they had been. In many cases the truth is ascertained only after the woman or girl has been detained for some time, and has come to realise that she has no need to be afraid of the consequences if she speaks the truth, and that it is to her interest to do so. In this way, though the women and girls are rescued, persons, who ought

The Honourable G. T. M. O'BRIEN, C.M.G.,

Colonial Secretary,

&c.,

&c.