352
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 27TH JULY, 1872.
Indexes to be made at the Registrar General's Office, and Persons allowed to search them.
Certified
General Register Office to be sealed.
XV. The Registrar General shall cause Indexes of the Register Books in his Office to be made and kept with the other Records of his Office; and every Person shall be entitled at all reasonable Hours to search the said Indexes, and to have a certified Copy of any Entry or Entries in the said Register Books under the Hand of the Registrar General on Payment of the Fees hereinafter men- tioned; that is to say:-for every general Search the Sum of Two Dollars, and for every particular Search the Sum of Fifty Cents, and for every such certified Copy the Sum of One Dollar.
XVI. The Registrar General shall cause to be made a Seal of Copies given at the said Register Office, and shall cause to be sealed or stamped therewith all certified Copies of Entries given in the said Office; and all certified Copies of Entries purporting to be sealed or stamped with the Seal of the said Register Office shall be received as Evidence of the Birth or Death to which the same relates, without any further or other Proof of such Entry; and no certified Copy purporting to be given in the said Office shall be of any Force or Effect which is not sealed or stamped as aforesaid,
Fees for Searches in the General Register Office to be accounted
for to the
Treasury.
Penalties for
false Information.
XVII. Every Sum received under the Provisions of this Ordi- nance by or on Account of the Registrar General shall be accounted for and paid by him into the Colonial Treasury.
XVIII. Every Person who shall wilfully make or cause to be wilfully giving made, for the Purpose of being inserted in any Register of Birth or Death, any False Statement touching any of the Particulars herein required to be known and registered, shall be subject to the same Pains and Penalties as if he were guilty of Perjury.
Penalty for not XIX. Every Person who is charged with the Duty of register- duly registering Births or Deaths, who shall refuse or without reasonable Cause ing Births Deaths or for omit to register any Birth of which he shall have had due Notice losing or as aforesaid, and every Person having the Custody of
any Register injuring the Book, or certified Copies thereof, or of any Part thereof, who shall Registers.
carelessly lose or injure the same, or carelessly allow the same to be injured whilst in his Keeping, shall forfeit a Sum not exceeding Two Hundred Dollars for every such Offence.
Penalty for destroying or falsifying Register Books.
Accidental
corrected.
XX. Every Person who shall wilfully destroy or injure, or cause to be destroyed or injured, any such Register Book, or any Part or certified Copy of any Part thereof, or shall falsely make or counterfeit, or cause to be falsely made or counterfeited, any Part of any such Register Book or certified Copy thereof, or shall wil- fully insert or cause to be inserted in any Register Book, or certified Copy thereof any false Entry of any Birth, Death or Marriage, or shall wilfully give any false Certificate, or shall certify any Writing to be a Copy or Extract of any Register Book, know- ing the same Register to be false in any Part thereof, or shall forge or counterfeit the Seal of the Register Office, shall be guilty of. Felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the Dis- cretion of the Court, to be kept in Penal Servitude for any Term not exceeding Seven Years and not less than Three Years, or to be imprisoned for any Term not exceeding Two Years with or without Hard Labour.
XXI. No Person charged with the Duty of registering any Errors may be Birth or Death, who shall discover any Error to have been com- mitted in the Form or Substance of any such Entry, shall be therefore liable to any of the Penalties aforesaid if within One Calendar Month next after the Discovery of such Error, in the Presence of the Parents of the Child whose Birth may have been so registered, or of two Persons attending upon any Person in his or her last Illness whose Death may have been so registered, or in Case of the Death or Absence of the respective Parties aforesaid, then in the Presence of the Registrar General, or in the Case of the Registrar General himself in the Presence of the Colonial Secretary and of two other credible Witnesses who shall respectively attest the same, he shall correct the erroneous Entry according to the Truth of the Case, by Entry on the Margin, without any Altera- tion of the original Entry, and shall sign the marginal Entry, and add thereunto the Day of the Month and Year when such Correction shall be made.
Recovery of Penalties.
Governor in
Council may frame Regulations.
and other Forms.
Commence. ment of Ordinance.
XXII. All Fines and Forfeitures by this Ordinance imposed unless otherwise directed, shall be recovered before any Police Magistrate, upon the Information or Complaint of any Person, under the Provisions of Ordinance No. 10 of 1844.
XXIII. It shall be lawful for the Governor in Council to frame such Regulations as may be found necessary or desirable for the due carrying into Effect of the Provisions of this Ordinance, and from Time to Time to alter or amend the Forms given in the Schedules hereto.
XXIV. This Ordinance shall come into Force on such Day as shall be hereafter fixed by Proclamation under the Hand of the Governor.
Passed the Legislative Council of Hongkong, this 23rd Day of July, 1879.
L. D'ALMADA E CASTRO,
Clerk of Councils.