LEGISLATION
Juvenile Offenders Ordinance, where the maximum period of detention that can be ordered is six months, this Ordinance provides for a sentence of detention in a training centre for a period not exceeding three years.
Urban Council: Ordinance No. 6 was enacted in time to enable an increased electorate to vote for an additional two members in the Urban Council elections in February. In the increased electorate women were given an equal right to be placed on the register. Ordinance No. 44 has made a further increase in the electorate so that, in the 1954 elections, there will be roughly an extra 20,000 potential voters.
Merchant Shipping: Ordinance No. 14, the longest of the year with 118 sections, is a work of amendment and consolidation. Some of the amendments are consequent upon the application to Hong Kong during the year of the Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act, 1949, which dealt, inter alia, with life-saving appliances, fire-fighting and radiocommunica- tion equipment.
Landlord and Tenant: Ordinance No. 22 gave legis- lative effect to those recommendations of the McNeill Report on Rent Control which had been accepted by Government. The permitted increases in rent are increases on the "standard rent" (in most cases that of 1941), and are less than would be supposed from a consideration of the rents actually being paid. A landlord or tenant may apply to the Rating and Valuation Department for a certificate which is prima facie evidence of the "standard rent". A principal tenant may charge a sub-tenant a sum equivalent to 30% above the "standard rent" of premises occupied by the sub-tenant in addition to the amount the principal tenant must pay his landlord. The Tenancy Tribunal may raise a "standard rent" where it is shown to be too low. Protection against eviction is given to the tenant, for example, where the landlord is
119