394
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
No. 8. 241.-The following Bill was read a first time at a meeting of the Council held on the 29th May, 1941 :-
Short title.
Amendment of Ordin- ance No. 18 of 1935, s. 116.
Amendment
of Ordin- ance No. 18 of 1935,
s. 127 (1).
A BILL
INTITULED
[No. 8-12.5.41.-1.]
An Ordinance to amend the Buildings Ordinance, 1935.
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 Buildings Amendment Ordinance, 1941.
2. Sub-section (1) of section 116 is amended by the addition to the end thereof of the following:
In issuing such permits the Building Authority shall have regard and shall be deemed heretofore to have had regard to the nature of the building and its fitness for occupation or use as a domestic or as a non-domestic building and shall accordingly issue, and shall be deemed heretofore to have had power to issue, permits appropriate to such occupation or use. And no person shall wilfully use or knowingly permit to be used any building with respect to which a non- domestic permit has been issued as a domestic building.
3. Section 127 (1) is amended by the addition of the following proviso to the end thereof—
Provided that the competent authority to deal with nuisances under section 116 shall be the Chairman of the Urban Council or any person deputed by him on that behalf.
Objects and Reasons.
Section 116 (1) of the Buildings Ordinance, 1935, is as follows:-
No new building shall be occupied or used in any way, except by caretakers only not exceeding two in number, until an authorized architect shall have certified in writing accord- ing to the form contained in Schedule K to the Building Authority that such building complies in all respects with the provisions of this Ordinance, and is structurally safe, nor until the owner shall have received a written permit to occupy such building.
The object of the Bill is to give the Building Authority power to issue a permit with respect to any building appro- priate to the use or occupation of such building as a domestic or a non-domestic building,
It has hitherto been the practice of the Building Authority to issue domestic and non-domestic permits for buildings intended to be used respectively as domestic or non-domestic buildings.