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will also exempt from licensing meetings held for social or business purposes in licensed restaurants, and also funerals.
Clause 3 of the bill amends section 3 of the Ordinance so as to restrict the exercise by a police officer of the power to prohibit the public display of flags and banners to occasions where he reason- ably believes that the display will lead to a breach of the peace. At present, he can do this without having to show that he had any reasonable grounds for exercising the power. Section 3 has also been amended to make the power available where flags are flown in vehicles and vessels as well as on premises.
Clause 6 amends section 11(2) so as to require a police officer to exercise the powers conferred under that section which are powers to prevent the holding of a public gathering, or to stop or disperse one, only on the basis of reasonable belief, in the same manner as I have just indicated his discretion would be limited under section 3 by clause 3.
Section 9 obliges the holder of a licence to hold a public meeting to be present from the first assembly of the meeting to its final dispersal. Clause 5 amends this strict requirement so as to provide a defence to a licensee who can show that he has been absent from the meeting due to illness or other unavoidable cause.
The present obligation imposed on the licensee to ensure that police directions are followed for an hour after dispersal of the meeting is deleted, since this imposes an unfair burden on the licensee.
The effect of section 12 of the Ordinance is to make it an offence to take part in an assembly which becomes an unlawful one under that section, for example, if a public meeting takes place without a licence or if some members of a public gathering fail to obey an order to disperse. It is possible that, at least in the early stages of a meeting which thus becomes unlawful, innocent bystanders, activated
• only by curiosity, may find themselves trapped in the crowd and so become guilty of an offence of unlawful assembly. Clause 7 therefore amends section 12(3) so as to afford a defence of lawful authority or reasonable excuse, which would, for instance, be available to anyone who can show that he was only an innocent bystander and not a real participant in the unlawful assembly.
Section 13 of the Ordinance makes it an offence to behave in a noisy or disorderly manner or to use threatening abusive or insulting words if such conduct is intended or likely to cause a breach of the peace. Clause 8 removes a doubt as to whether or not the display of abusive words, as well as their verbal use, falls within the section.
Clause 9 provides a defence of lawful authority or reasonable excuse (instead of only lawful authority as at present) to a person