138
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
The work done in the Magistracies during the year showed such an increase that in November space had to be found, in the vicinity of the Hong Kong Magistracy, for another court. Five regular courts were thus functioning daily in Hong Kong, together with the Justices of the Peace in the afternoons and a Juvenile Court in the mornings. In Kowloon four regular courts operated throughout the year.
The total number of charges and summonses showed an increase of 18% over 1954, the total being 200,603, a very substantial portion of which was made up of such offences as hawking without a licence and breaches of traffic regula- tions. As the Acting Chief Justice explained in his speech at the ceremonial opening of the Assizes in January, these offences, though individually not serious, are in total one of the Colony's major problems.
There was a decrease in the number of offences by juveniles, with 34,584 convictions, as against 39,700 for 1954. Most of the charges against juveniles were in connexion with minor offences, such as hawking and obstruction.
Statistics of work in the Magistracies are as follows:
Hong Kong Kowloon
New Territories
Total
Total number of charges
79,006 60,800
2,300 142,106
Prosecutions against adults
and juveniles
96,689
118,342
5,237
220,268
Convictions against adults and
juveniles
93,379
117,110
4,721
215,210
Prosecutions against juveniles
only
蕾
9,403
25,393
16
34,812
9,193 25,383
8
34,584
Convictions against juveniles
only
Summonses issued
28,696 27,518 2,283 58,497
There was a drop in the number of applications to Tenancy Tribunals, as compared with previous years. From 659 cases in 1951, the numbers mounted to the formidable total of 5,263 in 1954. This year the number of applications filed was 2,754. On the other hand, the numbers of exemption cases have increased. These applications are brought under the provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, under which an applicant, wishing to obtain exemption from the Ordinance in respect of certain buildings, brings proceedings before a tribunal for that purpose. These tribunals consist of a president (a member of one of the legal professions) and two lay members chosen from a panel appointed by the Chief Justice. The hearings of exemption cases are sometimes