Mr. Carter
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Papers were recently submitted which indicated the extent to which emergency legislation was still in force in Hong Kong; and the extent to which such legislation either had been or was proposed to be embodied in the permanent law of the Colony. Sir Arthur Galsworthy has indicated that Lord Shepherd should be kept informed of any new legislation designed to incorporate any provisions of emergency legislation into the permanent law.
We are now considering on this file one such piece of draft legislation in the form of the attached draft Public Order (Amendment) Bill which was recently sent to us by the Governor. However, it will be seen from what follows that there are other reasons why this particular Bill may be of interest to the Minister.
2.
The Hong Kong Public Order Ordinance, was brought into operation in November, 1967 at the height of the disturbances in the Colony. Its purpose was to consolidate into one Ordinance the various provisions dealing with public order and to strengthen the law where experience had shown this to be desirable. Work on the preparation of the Ordinance had been in progress for more than two years prior to its enactment; account was taken in its drafting of the experience gained during the 1967 disturbances, but the Ordinance was not designed for dealing with emergencies. The Governor sought the views of the Department on the draft Bill before its enactment and the matter was given careful and prolonged examination in the Commonwealth Office over a period of several months before the draft Bill was agreed to.
3.
Shortly after the enactment of the Ordinance, the Reform Club of Hong Kong (an organisation of some 5,000 paid-up members) submitted a petition to Parliament (copy attached) on the subject of the Ordinance, through the medium of Mr. John Rankin, M.P. The petition asked for the Ordinance to be disallowed. The Ordinance was (also the subject of considerable criticism by the Hong Kong branch of "Justice". This criticism was set out in a comprehensive memorandum sent to the Department by "Justice"; and this memorandum has received close examination both by our Legal Advisers and by the Attorney-General in Hong Kong.
"Justice's" main criticisms were concerned with the increased powers given by the Ordinance to Police Officers in order to strengthen the hands of the latter in dealing with lawless elements in the community; and with certain provisions which created offences in connexion with unlawful assemblies and which, in the view of "Justice", were such as to do away with the requirement that guilty intent should exist before an offence could be committed
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4.
The Ordinance has also been the subject of two Parliamentary Questions by Mr. Frank Allaun (one on 19 December, 1968 and one on 10 February, 1969). Both of these Questions were concerned with the burden of proof being placed on the authorities and he was given the same reply to both Questions, namely that the Secretary of State was examining certain provisions of the Ordinance in consultation with the Governor in the light of criticisms that had been made.
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