4. As regards paragraph 5 of your letter, experience
has shown that in the particular circumstances of
Hong Kong the powers to which you refer are
necessary in certain cases to prevent persons from
disappearing whilst their objections are being
considered.
J. It is assumed that paragraph 6 of your letter
Sub-
refers to Section 17 (1) (b) of the legislation:
Section
that Sub-clause relates only to persons who are
illegal immigrants or who are in breach of
conditions of stay. Under the new legislation a
conviction in such cases will no longer be a
prerequisite to the making of a Removal Order in
respect of such persons.
Before the enactment of
the legislation it had often proved necessary to
bring a prosecution for the sole purpose of enabling
the Governor to order removal when the public interest
would not otherwise have required that the offender
should be prosecuted. In the case of deportation
it is true that a legal conviction will not be
a prerequisite under the new legislation to the
making of a Deportation Order by the Governor-In-
but neither
Council; nor was it a prerequisite under the
^
previous legislation.
6. You may rest assured that there is no intention
to use the new legislation to stifle legitimate
criticism; nor, as explained in paragraph 3 above, does the legislation represent/diminution in the
basic legal rights of United Kingdom citizens.
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