1216
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
No. S. 523. The following Bills were read a first time at a meeting of the Council held on the 19th December, 1929 :-
C.S O. 9 in 4299/29.
[No. 38.-4.12.29.—2.]
A BILL
Short title.
Insertion of new section 44 in Ordinance No, 25 of 1927.
INTITULED
An Ordinance to amend 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, 1929.
2. The Printers and Publishers Ordinance, 1927, is amended by the insertion of the following section immediately after section 4 :-
Security.
4A. (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (7), no newspaper shall be registered until a sum of three thousand dollars has been deposited with the Reg- istrar by or on behalf of the person seeking registration. Any such deposit shall bear interest at the rate of four per cent per amnum while under the control of the Registrar.
(2) The money thus deposited shall be available to pay any fine which may be imposed upon the proprietor, printer, "pub- lisher, or editor of the newspaper in question, either under this Ordinance or in respect of any matter appearing in the said newspaper, and shall also be available to pay 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 Registrar may direct that the whole of such money or such part as may be necessary shall be paid out in respect of such fine, damages or costs.
(4) When any money has been paid out under sub-section (3) the Registrar may in his discretion suspend the registration of the newspaper concerned until a deposit has been made with him, in respect of the newspaper concerned, equal to the amount paid out under his direction, and during the period of such suspension the newspaper shall be deemed to be not registered, and for the purposes of sub-section (8) of section 4 of this Ordinance the require- ments of the said section 4 shall be deemed not to have been complied with in the case of such newspaper.
(5) The proprietor of any newspaper may at any time give notice to the Registrar that he desires the registration of the news- paper to cease and the Registrar may on the receipt of such notice cancel the