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THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY.
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they might have, before him. Shortly after his arrival, a Chinese deputation waited on him (April 4, 1872), when he told them that the Chinese could always see him when they had matters to lay before him, if they gave notice before hand and brought an interpreter with them. The Chinese were not slow in availing themselves of this offer which rescinded sans façon the policy initiated by Sir H. Robinson. The outgoing and incoming Directors of the Tungwa Hospital now made it a rule to wait on the Governor once a year. The first thing they asked of the Governor (December, 1872) was that he should pass an Ordinance punishing adultery in the case of Chinese women. Considering that nearly every man in the deputation had formally married several wives and was, if English law had been applied, liable to be punished for bigamy, it was rather naive of these Chinamen to ask that their runaway concubines should be punished under English law for adultery. The next thing they asked (July, 1873) was that the Governor should grant the Chinese community some form of municipal government, and, to begin with, authorize the election, by the people, of a Chinese Municipal Board, consisting of two Chinese residents from each district, to assist the Registrar General withtheir advice in all Chinese municipal matters. In December 1874, they urged the Governor to pass an Ordinance making it compulsory for all Chinese shops and firms to register the names of all their active and sleeping partners. In the following year they solicited an improved Bankruptcy Law, the erection of a harbour of refuge to be used by small craft in case of a typhoon, the grant of a site for the erection of a Chinese townhall, and the opening of a lepers' asylum on some small island. It is only to be regretted that Sir Arthur could not see his way to take up any of these suggestions, with the exception of a site for a public meeting hall which he promised to give them, and that he failed to make good the promise he had hastily given. Towards the close of his administration, when he knew the Chinese character better, Sir Arthur changed his attitude towards the Chinese and made an order (January 8,