DROIT
HONGKONG.
ANNO SEXTO ET SEPTIMO
VICTORIÆ REGINÆ.
No. 2 of 1844.
Ordinance by His Excellency Sir HENRY POTTINGER Baronet, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, Major General in the Service of the East India Company, Governor and Commander in Chief of the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies, and Superintendent of the Trade of Her Majesty's Subjects in China, with the advice of the Legislative Council of Hongkong.
An Ordinance to regulate the Printing of Books and Papers, and the Keeping of Printing Presses within the Colony of Hongkong,
[28th February, 1844.]
Rules herein after mentioned.
BE it enacted, that from and after the first day of April now next ensuing, no printed Periodical work whatever, containing public news or comments on public news, shall be published within the Colony of Hongkong, except in conformity with the Rules hereinafter laid down.
1.-The Printer and the Publisher of every such Periodical work shall before the Chief Magistrate of Police at Hongkong, and shall make and subscribe in duplicate the following declaration "I, A. B., declare that I am the Printer (or Publisher, or Printer and Publisher) of the Periodical work intitled ... (here insert title) and printed (or published, or printed and published) at Hongkong," and the last blank in this form of declaration shall be filled up with a true and precise account of the premises where the printing or publication is conducted.
2-As often as the place of printing or publication is changed a new declaration shall be necessary.
3-As often as the Printer or the Publisher, who shall have made such declaration as is aforesaid, shall leave the Colony of Hongkong, a new declaration on the part of a Printer or Publisher resident within the said Colony shall be necessary.
2.-And be it enacted, that whoever shall print or publish any such periodical work as is herein before prescribed, without conforming to the Rules hereinbefore laid down, or whoever shall print or publish, or shall cause to be printed or published, any such Periodical work, knowing that the said Rules have not been observed with respect to that work, shall on conviction be punished with fine, to an amount not exceeding three thousand dollars, and imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.
3.-And be it enacted, that each of the two originals, of every declaration so made and subscribed as is aforesaid, shall be authenticated by the signature and seal of the said Chief Magistrate of Police; and one of the said originals shall be deposited among the Records of the office of the said Chief Magistrate, and the other original shall be deposited among the Records of the Supreme Court of ...
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