PAWNBROKERS.
No. 16 of 1930.
1813
16. On the tender of any such ticket, together with the full amount then due for principal and simple interest, if made within eight months from the day of making of the loan in the case of goods pawned in the Island of Hong Kong, Kowloon or New Kowloon, or if made within twelve months from the day of making the loan in the case of goods pawned in any part of the New Territories other than New Kowloon, the pawnbroker shall deliver up to the person tendering the ticket the goods described therein.
17. Section 16 shall not apply to cases where, on or before such tender, the pawnbroker has had from the borrower or the owner of the goods notice not to deliver the same, or has had knowledge or notice that the same have been or are suspected to have been unlawfully obtained from or lost by the owner, or to tickets as to which the borrower has taken such proceedings as are provided by section 18, in all which cases the pawnbroker shall withhold the goods.
18.—(1) On the application of any person representing himself to be the borrower or the owner of the goods or ticket, and as the case may be, and to have lost or been unlawfully deprived of the same, the pawnbroker shall, if the goods are still not unredeemed or unsold, forthwith deliver to such applicant a copy of the entry in the general book, and the said applicant shall immediately thereupon proceed to a magistrate and shall verify such representation by written information on oath before such magistrate.
(2) If the said applicant verifies such representation to the satisfaction of the magistrate and obtains a certificate to that effect, indorsed upon the said copy, the pawnbroker shall, on the copy so indorsed being delivered by the said applicant, deliver to him, according to the circumstances of the case and as the magistrate may order, another ticket or the goods, either with or without payment of the principal or interest or both principal and interest, as the magistrate may direct.
19. A magistrate shall, upon written information on oath being laid before him that there are probable grounds for believing that any goods have been pawned without the privity of their owner, issue his warrant for searching any place where goods pawned without the privity of their owner are suspected to be.
† As amended by Law Rev. Ord., 1939, Supp. Sched.