583
Objects and Reasons.
1. The Registrar General (whose title was changed to Secretary for Chinese Affairs by Ordinance No. 21 of 1913) was Registrar of Births and Deaths under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance, 1896, (No 7 of 1896) until 1909 when by the Public Service Transfer of Duties Ordinance (No. 15 of 1909) the Head of the Sanitary Department was substituted. It is now considered, as a part of the scheme for re-organization of the Medical and Sanitary Services of the Colony, that the Director of those Services should be the Registrar of Births and Deaths. Sections 2 and 5 of this Ordinance accordingly make the necessary changes in the principal Ordinance and Regulations. As the Medical and the Sanitary Departments are in the same Building the transfer of office and staff from one department to another involves no changes in the routine of registration.
2. Sections 3 and 6 implement section 14 (2) of the Probates Ordinance, 1897, (No. 2 of 1897 as amended by No. 21 of 1930) in order to give effect to an arrangement which has been arrived at between His Majesty's Govern- ment and the United States Government, relating to the manner in which the provisions of Article 3 of the Real and Personal Property Convention of Washington of the 2nd March, 1899, which has been applied to this Colony, may be carried out. Under that arrangement, provision
is made for notification to the nearest American Consul whenever a citizen of the United States dies in the Colony. Under section 14 of the Probates Ordinance, the notifica- tion is made by the Official Administrator. The amend- ments made in the principal Ordinance by this Ordinance make provision for informing the Official Administrator Informauts for purposes of Registration of Death are therefore required to state, in addition to the usual parti- culars, the nationality of the deceased, if known; and where the information is of the death of a citizen of the United States, the Registrar is required to pass such infor- mation on to the Official Administrator and through him to the Consul.
3. Section 4 of this Ordinance amends section 10 (2) of the principal Ordinance. Under that sub-section, which was introduced into the principal Ordinance by Ordinance No. 26 of 1923, the late registration fee, after twelve mouths, is at the rate of five dollars for every year or part of a year that has elapsed since birth. It is considered that the progressive fee defeats its object as it deters persons from registering who might otherwise do so parti- cularly in the New Territories where the absence of district registries has been conducive to late registration.
February, 1931.
C. G. ALABASTER,
Attorney General.