488
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Draft Bill.
No. 8. 117.-The following Bill is published for general information :-
Short title.
Amendment
A BILL
INTITULED
[No. 11-5.5.36.-1.]
An Ordinance to amend the Female Domestic Service
Ordinance, 1923.
BE it enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Female Domestic Service Amendment Ordinance, 1936.
2. Sub-section (3) of section 18 of the Female Domestic of Ordinance Service Ordinance, 1923, as enacted by section 7 of the Female Domestic Service Amendment Ordinance, 1929, is amended by the insertion of the words "and to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months" after the words "two hundred and fifty dollars' at the end thereof.
No. 1 of 1923. s. 18 (3) as enacted by Ordin ance No. 22 of 1929, s. 7.
Objects and Reasons.
1. By sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 18 of Ordinance No. 1 of 1928, as enacted by section 7 of Ordinance No. 22 of 1929, the maximum penalty for contravention of section 6 of the 1923 Ordinance, which dealt with illtreatment of a mui tsai, was a fine of H.K. $500 and imprisonment for six nionths, unless gross cruelty was proved, in which case the maximum penalty was one year's imprisonment without the option of paying a fine.
2. By sub-section (3) the maximum penalty for other contraventions of the Ordinance or of any regulation made thereunder was a fine of H.K. $250.
3. In the Straits Settlements by section 14 of S.S. Ordinance No. 5 of 1932 the maximum penalty for contraven- tion of their section 7, which is equivalent in effect to our section 6, is a fine of S.S. $500 and imprisonment for two years. For other contraventions of their Ordinance or of any rule made thereunder the Straits Settlements maximum penalty is a fine of S.S.$200 or six months imprisonment.
4. In the House of Commons on the 19th February, 1936, the Secretary of State, referring to mui tsai cases in Hong Kong, said "I have looked into the prosecutions and I find there are too many fines. I would like to see imprison- ment as a deterrent.'