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HONGKONG.
ANNO SEXTO ET SEPTIMO
VICTORIÆ REGINÆ,
No. 14 of 1844.
His Excellency JOHN FRANCIS DAVIS, Esquire, Governor and Commander in Chief of the Colony of Hongkong, and its Dependencies, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, and Superintendent of the Trade of British Subjects in China, with the advice of the Legislative Council of Hongkong,
An Ordinance for the suppression of Public Gaming in the Colony of Hongkong. WHEREAS it is expedient to suppress the pernicious practice of Public Gaming
[10th day of June, 1844]
Title.
Preamble.
Penalty on person
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 any person who shall for gain or lucre keep any house, room, or place, boat, vessel, or any place, on land or water, for public playing or gambling, or shall permit any person to play within such house, room, boat, vessel, or any place, on land or water as aforesaid, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars on conviction thereof in a summary manner.
And be it enacted, that any person who shall use, haunt, or be found within such house, room, boat, vessel, or any place on land or water as aforesaid, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding fifty dollars on conviction thereof in a summary manner.
Penalty on persons haunting gambling houses.
Person acting as master to be liable to penalty.
And be it enacted that the person appearing, or acting as master, or as having the care and management of any such house, room, or place as aforesaid, shall be taken to be the keeper thereof, and shall be liable as such to the penalty aforesaid.
And be it further enacted that it shall be lawful for any Justice of the Peace or Constable of the Police duly authorized by warrant of any Justice of the Peace, to enter, and if necessary to break into any house, room, boat, vessel, or any place either on land or water, within which such Justice of the Peace shall be credibly informed on Oath, or shall have reasonable grounds of his own knowledge to suspect and believe that public gambling or playing is, or has been commonly carried on, and to arrest persons within such house, room, or place as aforesaid, and to seize all tables, dice, or other implements of gambling, or which shall be used as such and also all monies or securities for money, which shall be in actual use for the purpose of gambling, and which said implements of gambling, and money, or securities for money, on conviction of the offender shall be and they are hereby declared to be forfeited to Her Majesty the Queen, Her Heirs and Successors.
And be it enacted, that all penalties herein mentioned, shall be recovered, levied and distributed on conviction of the offender before any Magistrate of Police, or any two Justices of the Peace, in the manner provided by Ordinance No.10 of 1844.
JOHN FRANCIS DAVIS,
Governor, &c., &c., &c.
Passed the Legislative Council, this 10th day of June, 1844.
A. E. SHELLEY,
Clerk of the Legislative Council.
HONGKONG,--Published by Authority.
subject to the provisions of Ordinance No.10 of 1844.
Printed by John Danskin,
264