1183
registration and the newspaper shall cease to be registered from the date of such cancellation.
(6) After the expiration of six months from any such cancellation of registration, or, in his discretion, before the expiration of that period, the Registrar may direct that the sum deposited in respect of such newspaper, or so much of such sum as remains deposited, shall be repaid to the person entitled to receive the same.
(7) It shall be lawful for the Registrar to accept, in lieu of the deposit of three thousand dollars, a bond in the said amount, by the person seeking the registration together with one or two sufficient sureties approved by the Registrar, conditioned for the payment of any fine which may be im- posed upon the proprietor, printer, publisher or editor of the newspaper in question, either under this Ordinance or in respect of any matter appearing in the said news- paper, and also for the payment of any damages that may be awarded in any action for libel in respect of any matter appearing in the said newspaper and the costs of any such action.
3. The proprietor of every newspaper already re- Temporary gistered at the commencement of this Ordinance shall, provision." within three months of such commencement, in respect of such newspaper either make the deposit referred to in sub-section (1) of section 4A of the Printers and Publishers Ordinance, 1927. as enacted by section 2 of this Ordinance, or, in the discretion of the Registrar, enter into the bond referred to in Sub-section (7) of the said section 4A, and thereupon the provisions of the said section 4A shall apply to such deposit or bond as if it had been made or entered into before the re- gistration of such newspaper. In the event of non- compliance with the provisions of this section the news- paper in question shall be deemed to be not registered. and for the purposes of sub-section (8) of section 4 of this Ordinance the requirements of the said section 4 shall be deemed not to have been complied with in the case of such newspaper.
Objects and Reasons.
1. Section 13 of the Printers and Publishers Ordin- ance, 1886, Ordinance No. 4 of 1886, required that the printer or publisher of every newspaper should enter into a bond in the sum of twelve hundred dollars, conditioned for the payment of any fine or penalty imposed on any conviction for libel, and further con- ditioned for the payment of any damages and costs in any action for libel published in the newspaper. This provision was not reproduced in the Printers and Publishers Ordinance, 1927, Ordinance No. 25 of 1927, because no actual recourse to the provisions of the section had been made for very many years, and it was thought that the section was unnecessary. Re- cently, however, a number of irresponsible newspapers with libellous and blackmailing tendencies have appeared, disappearing again upon the sign of any trouble. Prosecutions and actions for libel are no real remedy in such a case because the newspaper ceases and the promoters disappear when any action is