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class? The creditor, on the other hand, will have to spend a considerable sum on Court and Prison expenses. Thus while men, who have committed offences, get clear of the law, those who have been guilty of no offence are put to endless and unnecessary expenses. Very many people in Hongkong are just able to carn a livelihood by their different callings. Their business may not be worth more than $200 or $300. The occupants of houses in by-lanes and side streets who are generally poor may be easily tempted to break the law; and if they are fined they will require a year or two before they can earn enough to make up the amount of the fine. Further, if an offence of any kind be committed and although it be proved that the offender was not the householder himself, the householder will still have to pay the fine, because the real offender has concealed himself and failed to appear in Court. In this way householders will be caused un- speakable hardships and it will be really too great for them to bear. To the Government it seems only right to make stringent laws so that the people may learn to be careful in the letting of their houses. But it should be borne in mind that whilst every one, when he rents a house, will invariably describe himself as a respectable and peaceful citizen, some may craftily conceal their true character and others may in time change from good to bad. Again the renauts to whom houses have been sub-let, may have no property of any kind, and knowing that the law cannot reach them, will be even more inclined than others to act reck- lessly. If a landlord at the time of renting his house fails to find out the character of his tenants, it will be still more impossible for him to discover it afterwards.

Again, according to Chinese custom, even if a landlord himself should go in person each mouth to col- lect his rents, he can only make careful examination but cannot enter the sleeping rooms of his tenauts: so the tenants may be carrying on all sorts of irregularities without the landlord being able to know anything about them. The people who keep gambling houses and sly brothels and who sell unlicensed spirits are mostly of the incorrigible and lawless class. If these men break the law and be not punished with a severity that will teach them a lesson, and the householders be fined in their stead, they will be encouraged in their wickedness and will prove to be an cudless source of evil to the community. Thus honest and faw-abiding citizens of Hongkong would, though innocent, often be involved in trouble by bad characters, which would prevent their carrying on their lawful occupations in peace. It is much to be feared that, when people outside the Colony learn this state of things, they will be discouraged from coming to Hong- kong, and, consequently, the commercial prosperity of the Colony will decline.

We have seen that the laws that have hitherto been unde by the Government are perfect and complete. For instance, special men have been appointed for the suppression of gambling houses, sly brothels and unlawful sale of liquor. Head and other District Watchmen employed to patrol the streets by day and by night, are to be recommended by the Chinese themselves, because they know whether they are trustworthy or not. If these men, however, should fail to maintain their good character and should be found to be unfit for the post by the Chinese residents of the district to which they belong, they should be dismissed at any time, in order that they may have something to fear. If a more efficient patrol should be required, it would seem advisable that additional supervisors should be employed to exercise a closer watch, so that evil-doers may disappear and the well-behaved may live in peace.

Petitioners have lived under the protection of the Government ever since they first came to the Colony, and are much indebted for the kindness which has been bestowed on all alike and for the loving care of the people which has been manifested oven in the smallest matter. But now petitioners find, in Section 3, that the regulations about householders affect only Chinese and have nothing to do with Europeans. They would submit that no line of difference should be drawn between the two, since Hongkong is a place where people of all nationalities congregate and where Chinese and Europeans live together without distinction, and seeing that the Chinese who have come under your jurisdiction are, like the people of other nationalities, your subjects. Petitioners, when they remember that Your Excellency is most benevolent and just and will benefit the people to the fullest extent, have ventured to jointly present this Petition, setting forth truthfully all those points in the law which it will be difficult to put in force, and begging that His Excellency will consider, so that the people may be comforted and their expectations fulfilled.

To the Honourable

THE REGISTRAR GENERAL

for submission to

His Excellency Tue Governor.

Appendix F.

HONGKONG GENERAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, HONGKONG, 2nd November, 1877.

SIR,

The Committee of this Chamber desire to draw the attention of the Government to a want which has long been felt by the European Mercantile Community here of some system of Registration of the members of Chinese firms trading in Hongkong.