158
The Council having resumed, The ATTORNEY-GENERAL proposed that the Bill be read a third time and passe.!.
an
am not aware
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND youth and manhood of the colony. (Hear, hear.) tions extend over three months in the year, And the action of the Council with regard to and it is found a benefit to the profession the other matter is no less important-the that it should be so, that men should have preservation of this hill of a King of Sung some sort of relaxation. In this colony in My friend Dr. Ho Kai bas called this 1873, without going further back, an Ordinance brand new colony, and we are glad to have the -Ordinance 12 of 1873-provided by section respectable halo of antiquity drawn over us 26 a vacation of two months during August (Hear, hear.) To China 600 years is as yester and September. In 1832, by an Ordinance day, but with us in Europe 600 years is a long passed in September of that year, this vacation long way back. Dr. Ho Kai has put the matter was practically done away with in toto. It is no very clearly before us, and I will only say this use now going into the history of the passing It interests me in this way. From the earliest of that Ordinance, but we have had since that ages of the world when man emerged from the time 16 years' experience, and there seems to be lower creation—if he did emerge from the lower almost unanimous feeling among both creation-that hill has been a natural spot of de- branches of the profession that some vacation fence. In primeval times thousands of years ago should be observed by the Supreme Court. that hill was looked upon by man as a natural] The old vacation of two months in Angust and defence against wild animals first and possibly September seems to have followed the English against wild tribes later. In all parts of the world practice. We all know that August is a most you find these natural ramparts. We find them delightful month in England. in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and I have al- that August is a delightful month either in ways looked upon them with particular interest. Horgkong or any of the places adjacent where you can go, and no doubt the time of year was I was glad when my brother officer, Lieutenant Machell, drew my attention to it in the interest-found unsuitable. The desire of the profession ing lecture which he delivered in January of also appears to be that the vacation should be one the present year.
As I said before, I believe month instead of two-that it should be from we have done good work to-day in preserving the 20th September to the 17th October. That these sites for the recreation and instruction of is a time of the year when persous who need relaxation would possibly go to Japan to enjoy those coming after. (Hear, hear.)
themselves. This morning I received a letter from three members of the profession with re- gard to this Ordinance. This has not given me much oppertunity of going into it. Had they sent it on Saturday I shonld have had much longer to consider the matter, but I have done the best I could during the short time. I have looked at the circular sent round before this Bill was brought in. and I find that one of the gentle men who signed this letter said he did not object and that another of them raid he objected to the short vacation, saying it would not be of any use to anybody. I referred these objections to the gentleman who was prominent in bringing this Bill to my attention, and he said that the almost unanimous feeling was that short vaca- tions were of considerable utility and would not interfere in any way with the work required by the public. It will make no difference to myself. My experience of the Court is confined chiefly, at the present time, to the criminal work and pro- vision is made in the Bill for the criminal work to go on precisely as though there were no vaca- tions, and also the work in the Summary Court, though there is power given to the Judges to postpoue any matter which ably be postponed over the vacation. I understand that the judge of the Summary Court proceeds much in the same before whether the vacation is on or not. The judges have been consulted with regard to the Bill. The learned Chief Justice, who is always very kind in these matters, has read through the Bill, and it has met with his ap prdral. The Judges have therefore approved of the Bill and the whole of the profession with the exception of three solicitors, only one of whom disapproved of it in toto. In these days one goes a good deal by majorities, and there is a rast majority in favour of the Bill. To prevent any inconvenience the Bill will not be brought into operation till 1st December next.
The Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD I second that. I do so with pleasure, and I sincerely hope that the wish which the honourable member opposite (Hon. Dr. Ho Kai) expressed when the resolu- tion on this subject was before the Council will be borne in mind that the ground be reserved for all nationalities, irrespective of race, creed, or religion. I can assure the honourable mem- ber that the men who take part in recreation down there would welcome with open arms not only the senior member who represents the Chinese but the junior member if they would our recreation and come and take part in health-giving exercise. They would receive a right hearty welcome. Their example might have a wonderful effect on the viceroys in the various provinces and on ministers in the Tsung. li-yamen. I need only ask you to look at India to see what our Indian friends have done. India has given us one of the best cricketers the world has ever produced. It has also given ns excellent football players, and it has put into the field a polo team which I think has not yet been beaten. I venture to hope that at no very distant date the representatives of the Chinese and their friends will come down and take part in the manly recreation which goes on at Cause way Bay. (Hear, hear.)
The Bill was read a third time and passed.
VACATIONS IN THE SUPREME COURT,
**
goes on
it
can reason-
But
way 8.9
The ACTING COLONIAL Secretary seconded. The Bill having been considered in committee was read a third time and passed.
A SUPPLEMENTARY VOTE,
The ATTORNEY GENERAL-I propose the second reading of the Bill entitled an Ordinance for the establishment of vacations in the Supreme Court. Your Excellency has already spoken strongly on the necessity for places of relaxa. tion, but in order to enjoy any places of relaxation it is necessary to have time to do so. (Hear hear). There is a certaiu class of men who are really being hardworked-(laughter, and hear, hear) of whom it may be said as was said by Tennyson of the brook-" Men may come and men may go," but their work " for ever." I do not know whether it is a good thing for them. It may be, but there is a proverb, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." I have therefore much pleasure in proposing the second reading of the Bill for the establishment of vacations in the Supreme Court. It has long been a matter of surprise to me that at Hongkong there have been no vacations in the Supreme Court. not aware that such a state of things exists elsewhere or generally in the colonies. Most assuredly it is not the case in England. In England there are four vacations in the Su- honour to move the third reading of the Bill preme Court the long vacation, which begins entitled an Ordinance to amend the law relat- on the 10th of August and expires on the 24thing to the Registration of Trade Marks. of October; the Christmas vacation, which begins on the 24th of December and expires on the 6th of January; the Easter vacation, and the Whitsuntide vacation. First of all they have the long vacation of nearly two and a half months; they have 14 days at Christmas, four or five days at Easter, and three or four days at Whitsuntide. In other words their raca-
am
On the motion of the ACTING COLONIAL TREASURER, seconded by the ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY, the Council went into Committee on the Bill entitled an Ordinance to anthorise the appropriation of a supplementary sum of three hundred and sixty-eight thousand, eight hundred and sixty nine dollars and ninety-three cents, to defray the charges of the year 1897.
The Bill was read a third time and passed.
THE REGISTRATION OF TRADE MARKS, The
bave
ATTORNEY-GENERAL-I
the
AL
the previous meeting of the Council the Council resolved itself into Committee, and the Bill was passed clause by clause, certain amendments being made. Various suggestions for the amendment of the Bill have been made. This morning I had an interview with the honour- able member for the Chamber of Commerce, 1 have gone into these matters with him, and I
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[August 20, 1988.
to
pointed out that the suggested improvements related chiefly to the rules. When the Bill was published the first time I published a memorandum with it and also the Trade Mark Rules for 1898 which were pro posed to be made by the Governor. These rules, include the classification of goods in accordance with the second schedule and the fees. The Bill itself gives the Governor in Council power make the necessary rules and to prescribe the fees, and until the Bill is passed it will be im- possible for the Governor to make these rules including the schedules attached to them. If the honourable member for the Chamber of Commerce will point out in the course of the week any objections to the rules those objections can be duly considered, and I shall then be in à position to lay before His Excellency the Rules as amended. Among other suggestions it was said that it was rather hard that a fee should be charged for the continuance at the end of 14 years of a trade mark which was registered before the passing of the Ordinance, but in this I am only following on the lines followed in England. As regards the Bill itself the only matter I have had my attention specially called to as far as I can recollect at the present moment is with regard to application for re- gistration, it being suggested that we should allow application to be made by an agent of a firm and also that he should be allowed to make a statutory declaration or affidavit, subject to a confirmatory affidavit being made within three months by the party for whom the application for registration is made. I have made provision for the making of the application for registra- tion by an agent, but when we come to the statutory declaration or affidavit, I think it would be entirely out of place to allow an affidarit to be made by deputy. A man must speak for himself, and be answerable if he speaks falsely. I do not think there was any other point except with regard to clanse 3, which says:-"(1) For the purposes of this Ordinance, a trade mark must consist of or con- tain at least one of the following essential particulars:-(a) A name of an individual or firm printed, impressed, or particular and distinctive manner; or (b) a written signature or copy of a written signaturo of the individual or firm applying for registra- tion thereof as a trade mark; or (c) a distinctive devi, mark, brand, beading, label, or ticket; or (d) an invented word or invented words; or (e) a word or words having no reference to the character or quality of the goods, and not I should like being a geographical name." to point out that these words are not my own words, but are taken absolutely verbatim from the Act in force in England, and what is the law in England can very well be the law here. The objection taken was that under that definition there might be some Chi- nese word or character in use as a trade mark, but seeing that they find no difficulty in Eng land I do not think we shall find any here. Thon application has to be made to the Gover- nor, who can at his discretion grant it or otherwise. The trade mark, I assume, would come before the Attorney-General, and the Governor would be advised by him. I think we cannot do better than follow the latest Act in England. Therefore, I do not think there is any objection, so far as I am aware, to the Bill itself. One or two slight matters may be improved, and when I have had the op portunity of seeing the honourable member for the Chamber of Commerce as regards the classification of goods I will consider them. I should not attempt to grapple with such a sub-✨ ject out of my own head. The list of 50 classes of goods has been sent to me from England, and this list, with some slight variation, will, I As think, be good enough for Hongkong. regards the rules I shall be pleased to receive suggestions, but those suggestions should be made speedily.
11
woven in some
The ACTING Colonial SecretARY seconded. The Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD-Before this. is passed there is one question I should like to ask. I can speak from knowledge that the Attorney-General has put in a vast amount of time in regard to this Bill. It is full of technicalities and has entailed a great amount of work. Rule 5 says:-" AL application for re- Hrm gistration of a trade mark, if made by any or partnership, may be signed by some one or