Sessional_Paper_1935 — Page 260

No. 189.

252

Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to Secretary of State for the Colonies.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, Hongkong, 15th August, 1883.

Enclosure 1.

See (2).

Enclosure 2.

MY LORD,

In my despatch, No. 79, of the 22nd May ultimo, I stated that I had found that, before my arrival in this Colony, the Officer lately administering the Government (Mr. March) had entrusted Mr. Justice Russell (then Registrar General and Protector of the Chinese), with the duty of preparing the report on "the system of Child adoption and Domestic Service as it exists at Hongkong," for which Lord Kimberley had called in his despatch, No. 40, of the 18th March, 1882.

2. Mr. Russell's subsequent promotion to the Bench of the Supreme Court and the pressure of his official duties necessarily delayed the completion of the Report. But he has now placed it in my hands, and I have great pleasure in transmitting herewith printed copies of it.

*

*

14. With regard to Mr. Russell's practical suggestions for further exertions in the same direction, they meet with the hearty concur- rence of the present Registrar General and Protector of the Chinese, (Mr. Stewart). They have also been approved by myself and by the Executive Council; and I propose to take the necessary measures for carrying them into execution, subject to Your Lordship's sanction.

15. In conclusion, I would repeat the remarks made in a previous despatch to the effect that the English in Hongkong are in an utterly different position from that held by the English in India. In the latter country, we succeeded to the rule of great nations and countries which had already long before our arrival, attained to a high degree of civilized organization, and whose laws and institutions we were bound to respect and maintain, so far as they were not repugnant to humanity and to the imperial policy of England. But the island of Hongkong on the contrary, when annexed to the British Empire in 1843, was merely a barren rock, uninhabited save by a handful of fishermen and pirates. The Chinese Merchants and others who have since voluntarily sought the protection of the English flag are not, with few exceptions, native born, or naturalized British subjects, nor permanent residents in this dependency. The Chinese like the English and other Europeans, come here for a time, to make money, hoping to return ultimately to their native homes. They must be taught as I recently, with all courtesy, informed an influential députation of the Chinese community, that if they deliberately choose for their own purposes, to dwell on British territory, they must, while entitled to the protection of the English laws, learn to obey those laws.

The Right Honourable

THE EARL OF DERBY,

&c.,

&c..

&c.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) G. F. BOWEN.