SPEECH BY THE HON. ATTORNEY GENERAL (ACTING) IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY 23RD MAY.
PUBLIC ORDER (AMENDMENT) BILL 1973.
SECOND READING
sir,
I move the Second Reading of the Public Order
(Amendment) Bill 1973.
Honourable Members will recall that the Public Order
(Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance, 1972, which came into force on
the 15th December last year, provided for a mandatory sentence
of not less than 6 months' imprisonment or a detention centre
order to be imposed on a person convicted under section 33 of
the Public Order Ordinance of the offence of having an offensive
weapon in his possession in a public place.
Since that date, a substantial number of persons
has been convicted of offences under this section, which,
generally speaking, seems to have had a helpful effect in
restraining the carriage of dangerous weapons in public. How-
ever, experience of the working of the section has shown that
it needs to be clarified and improved in some respects.
In particular, the provision for a mandatory sentence
only becomes effective on summary conviction. Section 36 of
the Magistrates Ordinance and section 3 of the Probation of
Offenders Ordinance enable a magistrate, even where he is
satisfied that the charge is proved, to make an order dis-
charging an offender, or to make a probation order, without
proceeding to conviction. It is thought desirable to make it
clear that these two sections may not be used where a person
is charged with an offence under section 33 of the Public Order
Ordinance.
It has been argued that a loophole of this nature
might be useful since it could be employed in those rare cases
in which an offender might be convicted in circumstances in