A BILL
ENTITLED
No. 47:--[30.11.99.]
136
An Ordinance to provide for the summoning of Chinese before the Registrar General.
As it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows :
1. This Ordinance may be cited as The Summoning of Chinese Ordinance, 1899.
2.-(i) The Governor may at any time direct the Registrar General to enquire into and report to any matter which is connected with the New Territories as defined by section 2 of Ordinance No. 12 of 1899, if such matter exclusively concerns persons of Chinese race, whether British subjects or otherwise.
(ii) It shall be lawful for the Registrar General to summon in writing under his hand and seal any person of Chinese race (whether a British subject or otherwise) who appears to him to be able to give information regarding any matter into which the Registrar General is directed by the Governor to enquire, reciting in the summons the subject of the enquiry.
3. Every person so summoned shall be legally bound to attend before the Registrar General at the time and place specified in such summons and to answer truthfully all questions which the Registrar General may put to him relating to the matter under enquiry, and to produce, if required by him, to the Registrar General or to some person deputed by him for the purpose, any books, documents, or other written matter pertinent to the enquiry, and to permit the inspection of any property either by the Registrar General or by some person deputed by him for the purpose, and the Registrar General shall for the purposes of this Ordinance have powers similar to those vested in the Supreme Court of this Colony in regard to administering oaths to witnesses and examining witnesses on oath, and any person wilfully giving false evidence on oath before the Registrar General shall be liable upon summary conviction before a Magistrate, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour, or to the payment of a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars which may be recovered by distress, and the provisions of the Magistrate's Ordinance, 1890, relating to summary procedure shall apply to any proceedings under this section.
4.-(i) If any person so summoned omits to attend at the time and place so specified, it shall be lawful for the Registrar General to issue his warrant for the arrest of such person, and such warrant shall be executed by a Police Officer or Constable in the same manner as if it had been issued by a Magistrate, and every person so arrested shall be liable, upon summary conviction before a Magistrate, to the payment of a fine not exceeding ten dollars which may be recovered by distress, and the provisions of the Magistrate's Ordinance, 1890, relating to summary procedure shall apply to any proceedings under this section.
(ii) If any person against whom a warrant has been issued as aforesaid absconds or conceals himself so that such warrant cannot be executed, it shall be lawful for a Magistrate, on the application of the Registrar General, to order that the rents and profits of such person's property shall be attached by an officer named in such order until such time as such person shall appear before the Registrar General in obedience to such warrant. All or any part of the rents and profits so attached may, if a Magistrate in his discretion so orders, be forfeited to the Crown.
Objects and Reasons.
The object of this Bill is to confer effective power upon the Registrar General to summon before him any Chinese whom he desires to question upon any matter of importance connected with the New Territories and affecting the Chinese.
Hitherto the Registrar General has not been able to enforce the attendance of persons before him in some cases where it was desirable that such attendance should be secured.
This Bill is framed upon similar lines to the first four sections of Enactment VIII of 1899 of the Malay State of Selangor. The other Federated Malay States are under similar Enactments.
HENRY E. POLLOCK,
Acting Attorney General,