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the trial hereafter referred to, and for which the member of Marylebone has asked.
I proceed briefly to classify those facts under their proper heads.
I. THE COLONIAL SECRETARIAT.
As for every other colony, so for Hong Kong, the Imperial Government, moved by a desire of preventing the recurrence of a frequent source of embarrassment and abuse had, in 1856, wisely determined that the duty and power of the officer, administering a Colonial Government, should be deemed to be such, and no other, as are "defined in Her Majesty's Commission, and the Instructions with which he is furnished."[1]
In Colonies, possessing what is called "reponsible Government," the power and responsibility of the executive Government may be, for aught I know, shared with that officer by his Colonial Secretary and other subordinate heads of departments, who are called his "Ministers." But in colonies not so governed, at all events in that of Hong Kong, the terms of his "commission and instructions" confer
- ↑ "Rules and Regulations for Her Majesty's Colonial Service." London: Queen's Printers. 1856. III., s. 4.
