368
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Draft Bill.
No. S. 142.-The following Bill is published for general information:-
Short title.
New sub- section (8) added to Ordinance No. 25 of
1927, s. 4A. Ordinance No. 1 of 1930. Ordinance
No. 3 of 1933.
A BILL
INTITULED
[No. 9-5.5.37.-1,]
An Ordinance to amend further the Printers and Publishers
Ordinance, 1927.
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 Printers and Publishers Amendment Ordinance, 1937.
2. Section 4A of the Printers and Publishers Ordinance, 1927, (as enacted by section 2 of the Printers and Publishers Amendment Ordinance, 1930, and amended by section 3 of the Printers and Publishers Amendment Ordinance, 1933) is further amended by the addition of the following sub- section at the end thereof :-
(8) Where a newspaper shall have been registered without the payment of the deposit referred to in sub-section (1), whether on the acceptance of a bond in lieu of the deposit under sub-section (7) or otherwise, the Registrar may in his discretion demand such deposit and may suspend the registration of the newspaper concerned until the deposit has been made with him. Any such suspension shall have the On the same effect as a suspension under sub-section (4). making of such deposit the obligation of the bond, if any, shall be deemed to be discharged.
Objects and Reasons.
1. Section 13 of the Printers and Publishers Ordinance, 1886 (No. 4 of 1886) required that the printer or publisher of every newspaper should enter into a bond, conditioned for the payment of any fine or penalty imposed on any conviction for libel, and further conditioned for the payment of any damages and costs in any action for libel published in the newspaper.
2. The 1886 Ordinance was repealed and replaced by the Printers and Publishers Ordinance, 1927 (No. 25 of 1927) which however did not reproduce the provisions of section 13 of the repealed Ordinance or any equivalent therefor, with the result (see Hong Kong Hansard for 1929 p. 316) that a number of irresponsible newspapers with libellous and black- mailing tendencies appeared, disappearing again upon the sign of any trouble.
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