E HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 18TH NOVEMBER, 1876.
Every person who fraudulently obtains from any person em- ployed by or under the Post Office, or fraudulently detains, or wilfully secretes, keeps, or detains, any letter bag, or any corres- pondence which ought to have been delivered to any other person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Every person who fraudulently removes any postage stamp from any correspondence, or wilfully removes from any postage stamp any mark that has been made thereon at any Post Office, or knowingly uses or puts off any postage stamp from which any such mark has been removed, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Every person who is convicted of any misdemeanor mentioned in this section shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years with or without hard labour.
XXX. The sections of the Larceny Ordinance (No. 7 of 1865) Receiving relating to receiving stolen goods, that is to say, sections LXXV stolen corres- to LXXXII, both inclusive, shall apply to felonies and mis- pondence. demeanors committed under this Ordinance; and for that pur- pose, the expression "this Ordinance" when used in the said sections shall be taken to include the present Ordinance.
XXXI. In any proceedings against any person for any offence Allegations to committed against this Ordinance, in respect of any letter bag, or be used in
proceedings correspondence, it shall be sufficient to allege such letter bag, or for offences. correspondence to be the property of the Postmaster General without mentioning his name, and in any such proceedings against any person employed by or under the Post Office, it shall be sufficient to allege that such person was 'employed by or under the Post Office, without stating further the nature or particulars of his employment.
XXXH. All pecuniary penalties for offences against this Ordi- Penalties may nance may be recovered in a summary way before a Magistrate, be recovered in but proceedings for the recovery of such penalties shall be com- menced within one year after the offence was committed.
XXXIII. Ordinance No. 8 of 1862 is hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not affect anything lawfully done or commenced to be done thereunder.
I,
SCHEDULE A.
a summary way within one year.
[[bid, sec.23.] Repeal,
do solemnly and sincerely declare, that I will not willingly or [See Ord. 8 of knowingly open, detain, return, delay, or misdeliver, or cause or suffer to be 1862, Sche- opened, detained, returned, delayed, or misdelivered, any correspondence which dule 4.] shall come into my hands, power, or custody by reason of my employment by or under the Post Office, except by the consent of the person to whom such corres- pondence shall be directed, or by an express warrant in writing for that purpose under the hand of the Governor of Hongkong, or of Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at the Port where I may be stationed, or except in pursuance and under the authority of any of the provisions of any Ordinance now or hereafter to be in force in the Colony of Hongkong relating to the Post Office of the said Colony.
Declared before me
this
day of
187
1,
SCHEDULE B.
Justice of the Peace.Į or H. B. M.'s Consul. }
2
do solemnly and sincerely declare, that I will not willingly or [Ibid, Sche- knowingly open, detain, return, delay, or misdeliver, or cause or suffer to be dule A.] opened, detained, returned, delayed, or misdelivered, any correspondence which shall come into my hands, power, or custody by reason of my employment by or under the Post Office.
503
Declared before me
this
day of
187
Justice of the Peace. or H. B. M.'s Consul.)
SCHEDULE C.
I do solemnly declare, that I have, to the best of my knowledge and belief, deli- [Ibid, Sche- vered or caused to be delivered to the Post Offic at Hongkong every letter bag dule B.] and all correspondence that was on board the vessel under my command, except such correspondence as is exempt by law.
Declared before me
this
A. B. Commander of the_
day of
187
Statement of Objects and Reasons.
This Ordinance will bring the postal law of this Colony into accord with the actual state of the postal service, as it has gra- dually grown up since the Ordinance of 1862 was passed. It provides for changes which may be found necessary under the General Postal Union, which the Colony has joined, and it makes such amendments as experience has shewn to be desirable.
The charges for postage to certain places, and for gratuities to shipmasters were fixed by the old Ordinance at exceptionally high rates, which it is now desirable to modify. Many other details set out in the Ordinance are amended.