401
Objects and Reasons.
1. The object of this Ordinance is to give the Governor power to raise a loan of $5,000,000 for the purposes specified in the Schedule to the Ordinance, namely :-
(1) Water works development......
..$3,500,000
(2) Aerodrome andįharbour development 1,000,000 (3) Other public works.........
500,000
2. The first item relates to the Shing Mun water scheme, and the figure of $3,500,000 is believed to be a fairly close estimate.
3. The second item includes the contribution of the Colony to the formation of an aerodrome, which will be partly for military purposes and partly for civil purposes. It also includes certain dredging operations which will be useful both for the development of the harbour and for the purpose of forming the aerodrome. This item cannot at present be precisely estimated.
4. The third item, Other public works", is perfectly general, but section 3 (1) of the Ordinance provides that no expenditure is to be incurred in respect of this item unless such expenditure has been approved by a resolution of the Legislative Council and by the Secretary of State.
5. As it is obviously impossible to foresee the exact expenditure on the Sting Mun scheme, and as the second item in the Schedule is admittedly not a precise estimate, provision is made in section 3 (2) of the Ordinance for the transfer of money from one item of the Schedule to another, but no such transfer can be made unless it has been approved by a resolution of the Legislative Council and by the Secretary of State.
6. Sections 4 to 12 are practically copied from sectious 3 to 11 of the War Loan Ordinance, 1916, Ordinance No. 12 of 1916. The dates differ of course, but there are no other changes of any substance in these nine sections, The loan is to be redeemable at par on the 1st November, 1938. but at any time after the 31st October, 1982, the Governor may approve of the redemption by purchase of bonds to such total value as he may determine, and at any time after the 31st October, 1932, he may direct drawings by lot of bonds to such total value as he may determine. The interest on the loan is to be 6 per cent,
7. Section 12 of the War Loan Ordinance, 1916, which exempted from all taxation the bonds issued under that Ordinance, is not repeated in the present Ordinance.
8. Sections 13 and 15 of the present Ordinance are copies of sections 13 and 14 of the War Loan Ordinance, 1916. Section 15 of this Ordinance exempts from military contribution all moneys appropriated out of revenue for, the payment of interest on the bonds and the formation of the sinking fund, and also the interest ou auy investments representing the sinking fund.
9. Section 14 of the Ordinance makes this loan a trustee- investment.
J. H. KEMP,
Attorney General.
28th July, 1927.