RECEIVED
SEP. 18 1844
1.1563
+
DROIT
HONGKONG.
ANNO SEXTO ET SEPTIMO
VICTORIÆ REGINÆ.
No. 11 of 1844.
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 for Licensing Public Houses, and for regulating the Retail of fermented, and spirituous liquors in the Colony of Hongkong.
[1st day of May, 1844.]
Title,
Preamble.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the licensing of public houses, and promoting good order therein, and for regulating the retail of fermented, and spirituous liquors, and preventing the illicit sale thereof in the Colony of Hongkong. Be it therefore enacted, by His Excellency, the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, that from and after the first day of July, now next ensuing, all licenses to sell spirituous liquors hitherto granted in the Colony of Hongkong, shall be null and void, and that if any person shall, from and after the said first day of July, sell or dispose of by retail in any quantity, less than two gallons, any ale, beer, or other malt liquor, or any wine, cider, ginger beer, spruce beer, brandy, rum, or other fermented or spirituous liquor, in any house, or place, within the Colony of Hongkong, or its Dependencies, or shall permit, or suffer, any such liquors, as aforesaid to be sold, or disposed of by retail, as aforesaid by any other person, in his, or her house, or other place, within the said Colony, or its dependencies, without having first obtained a license, in the manner and form hereinafter directed, every such person shall forfeit, for every such first offence, a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars, and for every subsequent offence a sum not exceeding four hundred dollars, together with the costs of prosecution, in every case to be recovered in a summary manner, as hereinafter provided, and every such person shall further upon conviction of any such offence, be rendered incapable of holding any license to keep a public house, for the period of three years, from the time of such conviction. Provided always, that nothing in this Ordinance shall be deemed, or taken to extend, or apply to any person, practising as an Apothecary, or druggist, who may administer, or sell any of the liquors before mentioned as medicines, or for medicinal purposes.
Not to extend to apothecaries or druggists with certain quantities.
2.-And be it further enacted, that every license, granted for selling and retailing liquors as aforesaid, under the provisions of this Ordinance, shall be valid for one year, from the granting of the certificate hereinafter mentioned, and no longer.
Licenses to be valid for one year.
3.-And for the better preventing the granting licenses to unfit or improper persons, be it further enacted, that every person, desirous of obtaining a license for keeping a public house, under the provisions of this Ordinance, or of obtaining the renewal of a license before granted, shall ten days before the day, on which his application is to be taken in consideration, deliver to the Chief Magistrate of Police, a notice in writing, of his, or her intention to apply for such license, and that in every such notice, there shall be contained a full description of the house proposed to be licensed, with a statement of the applicant's trade or calling, and situation in life, and whether married, or unmarried, together with the names, residence, and additions of his or her proposed sureties, and that every person, giving such notice, shall in like manner deliver, or cause to be delivered, with such notice, a certificate, signed, by three or more known, and respectable housekeepers, residing within the said Colony as aforesaid, in the forms prescribed in the schedule thereto annexed marked A.
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