LEGISLATION
145
admission of solicitors, barristers and notaries public and for the regulation of their professional practice.
Previous provisions laying down the formalities and prescribing the fees for persons seeking to be admitted are re-enacted by the ordinance, and by the Admission and Registration Rules, 1964, and the Legal Practitioners (Fees) Rules, 1964. Similarly, every solicitor or barrister in practice is required to be in possession of an annual practising certificate issued under the Practising Certificates Rules, 1964. In addition it is intended, when section 8 of the ordinance and the Accountant's Certificate Rules, 1964, are brought into operation, that every solicitor shall be required to produce, in connection with his accounts, a certificate issued by an accountant under those rules. The ordinance re-enacts the privileges of solicitors and barristers, and prohibits unqualified persons acting as such. It also repeats provisions for the remuneration of solicitors, and basic rules of conduct for solicitors are laid down by the ordinance and the Solicitors' Practice Rules, 1964. The keeping of registers of clerks and interpreters employed by solicitors are also required. The ordinance also makes provision for the taking by solicitors of articled clerks, and the Students Rules, 1964, lay down conditions with which a student must comply. Provision is also made for enquiry into the professional conduct of solicitors and barristers, and for investigating the conduct of articled clerks and solicitors' employees.
Following the recommendations contained in the Report on the Hong Kong Banking Business by Mr H. J. Tomkins, the Banking Ordinance, 1964, was enacted to replace the old Banking Ordinance, Chapter 155. The report expressed concern about some potentially dangerous features in the banking methods of some banks, partic- ularly in regard to the lack of adequate protection of the interests of depositors. The essence of banking should be the acceptance from the general public of deposits repayable on demand on current or savings accounts and the making of short term loans to customers, and it is banking of this kind that this ordinance is designed prin- cipally to regulate. Thus, the use of the title 'bank' is restricted by the ordinance to those organizations which are able and willing to comply with the conditions laid down in the ordinance. The main features of the ordinance are sixfold but certain relaxations are allowed in the case of existing unincorporated banks. First,