The Magistrate is a selfish old man.

"I hope that when we return them to their homes along the river they will have many far-fetched stories to tell their neighbours. I hope that the history of their captivity enters their legends, passed down from grandfather to grandson. But I hope too that memories of the town, with its easy life and its exotic foods, are not strong enough to lure then back. I do not want a race of beggars on my hands." (Page 19)

The magistrate proves in this passage, and does so repeatedly for the remainder of the book, that we is acting in his own (and the town's purely by association) self interest. In this quote, he is showing his desire that the town becomes the stuff of fisherfolk legend, and surely him with it as its administrator, so to speak. He wants the glory to be recorded, but just that. That he why he so vehemently ejects the notions of keeping prisoners and torturing them. He sees it as a glaring blemish in this charming hamlet's history. It surely becomes quite more than just a blemish as the book goes on, quite more like a horrendous infection that sweeps through the town, destroying all it was and all it could be. The magistrate does not want this. It is not for the love of the township, it is love of himself, his desire for an easy last few years. He is more selfish even than Joll, who at least puts the empire before himself. The magistrate could care less about the empire, all he cares about it his retirement.