§ DR. BOWRINGbegged to ask the noble Lord the question of which he had given notice, namely, Whether the attention of the Government had been called to the frequent application of flogging, as a punishment for petty offences, in the island of Hong-Kong, it being stated that no less than fifty-four persons were so punished on 341 Saturday, the 25th day of April last, for not having obtained tickets of registration; and after such infliction, were deliverd over to the Chinese authorities to be subjected to further penalties under the criminal code of that empire?
§ MR. HAWEShad received no account whatsoever of the affair alluded to by his hon. Friend; and the only punishment he had received accounts of, as having been inflicted for such an offence was fine and imprisonment, or imprisonment with hard labour. The circumstance, however, to which his hon. Friend had alluded, would receive attention and be inquired into, and by the next mail orders upon the subject would be issued.
§ DR. BOWRINGbegged to hand his hon. Friend the best evidence he possessed of the affair, the Hong-Kong newspaper.