Power of
Governor in
Council to impose fine.
Incidence
and method of levying fine.
Repeal of Ordinance No. 10 of 1910.
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7. It shall be lawful for the Governor in Council upou consideration of such report to order that a fine shall be imposed on the said village or on such area as he shall prescribe.
8.--(1.) Every such fine shall be apportioned by the Colonial Treasurer among all the owners of land in the said village or area prescribed, in the manner specified in sub-section (2) of this section, according to the amount of Crown rent or village rent payable by such owners respectively.
(2.) In the New Territories the Colonial Treasurer shall apportion the fine among all the persons whose names appear on the Crown rent roll for the said village or area, and elsewhere in the Colony among all the persons whose names appear either on the Crown rent roll or on the village rent roll for the said village or area.
(3.) The amounts so apportioned shall in each case be a first charge on the land in respect of which the Crown rent or village rent upon which the apportionment was based is payable.
(4.) The amounts so apportioned shall be recoverable from the respective owners whose names appear on the Crown rent roll or village rent roll respectively in the same manner in all respects as Crown rent is recoverable.
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(5.) It shall be lawful for the Governor in Council in his discretion to remit the payment of any amount apportioned in the case of any owner of land in the said village or area who was not resident in the said village or area at the time when the damage or destruction occurred and who was not a party to such damage or destruction.
9. The Crown Land Preservation Ördinance, 1910, is repealed.
Objects and Reasons.
One of the objects of this bill is to alter the composition of the body contemplated by the Crown Land Preservation Ordinance, 1910, for the purpose of enquiring into causes of damage to trees on Crown land or other Crown property with a view to the imposition of a fine on any village or area by the inhabitants of whom the damage was caused. In the New Territories the body will now consist of the District Officer and the Superintendent of the Botanical and Forestry Department instead of the District Officer and Assistant District Officer. In the rest of the Colony the body will consist of the Superintendent of the Botani- cal and Forestry Department and either the Secretary' for Chinese Affairs or one of his Assistants,
The other object of the bill is to widen the incidence of the fine and thereby to make it fairer. Under the present Ordinance the fine falls on the owners who are on the Crown rent roll while the persons on the village rent roll escape.
The form of the present Ordinance makes it somewhat difficult to amend, and this bill repeals it and re-enacts thre appropriate provisions.
J. H. KEMP,
Attorney General.