§ Mr. Reader Harrisasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many floggings, or other forms of corporal punishment, have been ordered by the courts in Hong Kong, in respect of juveniles and adults, respectively, during 1939 and each of the last five years.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsThe figures are as follows:
Juveniles Adults 1939 … … 147 347 1945 … … (No figures are available) 1946 … … 118 156 1947 … … 1,296 440 1948 … … 4,531 279 1949 … … 4,367 141 Eighty-five per cent. of the juveniles whipped in 1949 were sentenced for street trading, obstruction and breach of deportation orders. The practice in most of these cases has been to order three strokes of the cane. These figures should not be interpreted as symptomatic of the state of juvenile delinquency in Hong Kong, or as revealing brutality of punishment; nevertheless they have caused me serious concern and I am in correspondence with the Governor on the subject.