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A BILL
INTITULED
61
[No. 17-2.5.39.—1.]
An Ordinance to amend the Merchant Shipping Ordinance,
1899.
BE it enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as as follows:-
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Merchant Ship- Short title. ping Amendment Ordinance, 1939.
2. Sub-section (6) of section 22 of the Merchant Ship- Amendments ping Ordinance, 1899, is amended:---
(a) by the repeal of the words "shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars" in the four- teenth and fifteenth lines thereof and by the substitution therefor of the words shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars and to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months".
(b) by the addition of the following paragraph at the end thereof :-
If the intended voyage is to any port in China which has not been opened at any time to foreign trade the Harbour Master may refuse to furnish a port clearance.
Objects and Reasons.
1. Article XLVII of the Treaty of Tientsin (1858) pro- vided that "British merchant vessels are not entitled to resort to other than the Ports of Trade declared open by this Treaty. They are not unlawfully to enter other Ports in China or to carry on clandestine Trade along the coast thereof. Any vessel violating this provision shall, with her cargo, be subject to confiscation by the Chinese Government ".
2. Various ports were opened to foreign trade by that Treaty, some had been opened before by the Treaty of Nan- king, and others have been opened since.
3. The Treaty provisions do not appear to have been implemented by specific provisions in the Merchant Shipping Act or Ordinance, possibly because the liability to confisca- tion by the Chinese Government was in itself considered a sufficient deterrent.
of Ordinance No. 10 of 1899, s. 22 (6).
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