ORDINANCE No. 5 of 1845.
Salt and Opium.
to enforce the same by such penalties as shall seem expedient, provided always that such penalties shall not exceed those hereinbefore imposed.
6. And be it further enacted and ordained, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Governor, with the advice of the said Council, to make hereafter all such rules and regulations as to him may seem expedient concerning the farming, selling, and retailing of bhaang, ganja, paun, betel, and betel-leaf, and that in the making and enforcing of such rules and regulations he shall be vested with all and singular the powers and authority hereby vested in him with respect to the selling, farming, and retailing of opium.
7. And be it further enacted and ordained, that no person shall exercise or carry on the trade or occupation of a pawnbroker or of an auctioneer, or shall keep a public billiard table, without having previously obtained a licence from the Governor of Hongkong for the time being in Council, which licence shall endure for the space of one year from the date thereof: Provided always, that every person taking out a pawnbroker's or an auctioneer's licence, or a licence for a public billiard table, shall pay into the Colonial Treasury such sums as to His Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, may seem fit, the said sums to be paid previous to the granting of such licence or licences.
8. And be it further enacted and ordained, that if any person shall, without having obtained such licences aforesaid, carry on or exercise the trade or occupation of a pawnbroker or auctioneer, or keep a public billiard table, or either or any of them, or shall be convicted of exposing for sale, or putting up anything whatever to public auction, or of taking anything whatever in pawn, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding two hundred dollars, to be recovered in a summary manner before any Police Magistrate; and in default of payment, the same to be levied by distress and sale of his goods and chattels.
7.
9. And be it further enacted and ordained, that the Governor in Council, if he see fit, shall be empowered to levy an auction-duty of two-and-a-half per cent on all sales by auction within this Colony.*
10. And be it further enacted and ordained, that every person who shall act as an auctioneer in the said Colony shall make and give, at the office of the Colonial Secretary, once in every three months, a faithful and true return on oath of all the sums received at sales made by him as auctioneer within the said three months, and that every such Auctioneer shall, from every sum received by him on the sale of any article by him in that capacity, deduct the sum sanctioned under this Ordinance, and pay the amount thereof into the Colonial Treasury quarterly; and the books of such
119
Power to Governor in Council to make like regulations for the farming, selling, and retailing of bhaang, ganja, paun, betel, and betel-leaf, as for opium.
No person to act as pawnbroker or auctioneer, or keep a public billiard table, without a licence for such purposes.
Under penalty not exceeding two hundred dollars.
Discretionary power to levy an auction-duty of two-and-a-half per cent on all sales. [* Duty abolished: See Government Notification 15th March, 1849, and an annual fee of $150 imposed. Subsequently increased to $300 - See Government Notification, Gazette 27th June, 1857.]
Auctioneer to make quarterly returns on oath and deduct the auction-duties; his books being liable to inspection.