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LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
No. S. 229.-The following Bills were read a first time at a Meeting of the Council held on the 31st July, 1913 :-
Short title.
Amendmont of section 53 of
Principal Ordinance.
Amendment
of First Schedule of Frincipal
Ordinance.
A BILL
ENTITLED
An Ordinance to amend the Regulation of
Chinese Ordinance, 1888.
BE it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Regulation of Chinese (Amendment) Ordinance, 1913, and shall be read and construed as one with the Regulation of Chinese Ordinance, 1888, (hereinafter called the Principal Ordi- nance, and the Ordinances amending the same and this Ordinance and the said Ordinances may be cited together as the Regulation of Chinese Ordinances, 1888-1913.
2. Section 53 of the Principal Ordinance is hereby amended as follows:--
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(a.) by the substitution of the words one hun- dred for the word " fifty" in the third line thereof;
"
(b.) by the substitution of the word " two for the
word “one in the third line thereof.
3. The First Schedule to the Principal Ordinance is amended-
(a) by deleting the first, second, third, fifth, and
sixth items thereof;
M
(b.) by re-numbering item No. 4 Item No. I".
Objects and Reasons.
The object of this Bill is to facilitate the proper regis- tration of householders.
Neglect in registration has been, it is thought, due in the past largely to the fact that certain fees were charged in connection therewith. These fees were contained in the First Schedule to the Regulation of Chinese Ordi- nance, 1888, and were as follows:→
1. First registration of any house and house-
holder,
$3.00
2. Registration of change of ownership,
1.00
3. Registration of removal of registered
householder,.
0.35
4. Bond by non-resident householder,
5.00
0.25-
0.10
5. Certified extract from register, first folio, 6. Do., do., do., each subsequent
folio,
By Section 3 of the Bill the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th items are done away with,
No charge will in future be made in connection with the registration of any house and householder, or change of ownership, or removal of a registered householder.
The 4th item remains as it stood, whilst in the event of certified extracts from the register being at any time required the fee will be charged under the provisions of the Official Signatures Fees Ordinances, 1888-1913.
It is hoped that by thus doing away with these fees the practice of registration will be rendered more universal than has been the case in the past, especially when coupled as is now proposed with a more close system of supervision of the working of the law.
The other point dealt with in the Bill is the increase of the penalty capable of being inflicted in the case of offences against the provisions of the Principal Ordinance; which would include failure to carry out the requirements relative to registration which the Principal Ordinance demands. This is dealt with by Section 2 of the Bill.
JOHN A. BUCKNILL,
Attorney General.
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