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87
1
1
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2 This Ordinance is passed to
carry out an instruction conveyed to Sir J. Bowring in duly last to
the
make legal provision for Establishment in Chinese Passenger Ships of a separate Hospital for the sick.
–
the
3. The first section provides that Chinese Passenger ships shall clear out or proceed to sea without observing the provisions of
the
Passenger Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. cap 104). This enactment is superfluous - The Chinese Passengers Act is in force in Hongkong by the authority of the Imperial Legislature
and its re-enactment, therefore, by a Colonial Ordinance can have no other effect than to throw doubt on its validity without such re-enactment - and raise questions as to what has been already done under it. A proviso is added that for voyages to the Eastward of the Cape of Good Hope and to the Western Coast of America a Chinese surgeon may be employed where a European or American Surgeon cannot be obtained. The intention was to give a latitude of choice in voyages to the Eastward, but to exclude Chinese surgeons in voyages to the Westward of
the
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