In the meantime I presume that the censorship authority is vested in some social
workers and educationalists and I think in the Urban Council we have a number of
members fully qualified in that respect.
In United Kingdom this is governed by the Children and Young
Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, which may be useful as a basis of Hong Kong
legialation. The new legislation may provide that the Urban Council will be the
censorship authority with powers of censorship prior to exhibition and with power
to determine whether any publication is within the meaning of the legislation.
Some principal sections are quoted herebelow for reference:-
Section 1: "This Act applies to any book, magazine or other like
work which is of a kind likely to fall into the hands of children or young persons
and consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures (with or without the
addition of written matter), being stories portraying (a) the commission of
crimes; or (b) acts of violence or cruelty; or (c) incidents of a repulsive or
horrible nature, in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to corrupt
a child or young person into whose hands it might fall."
Section 2: "(1) A person who prints, publishes, sells or lets on hire
a work to which this Act applies, or has any such work in his possession for the
purpose of selling it or letting it on hire, shall be guilty of an offence and liable,
on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four months
or to a fine not exceeding £100 or to both: Provided that, in any proceedings taken
under this subsection against a person in respect of selling or letting on hire a
work or of having it in the possession for the purpose of selling it or letting on
hire, it shall be a defence for him to prove that he had not examined the contents
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