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C.O.
28774
MEMORANDUM OF SOLICITOR
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RIC2 lege | SEP 00
64
HONG KONG ORDINANCE.
'
In reference to the letter from Mr C.P.Lucas to
the Assistant Secretary of the Board of Trade dated the
11th April last, I have the following observations to
make on the points to which attention is called:-
Paragraph 3. The remarks in this paragraph
are to a certain extent dealt with by my notes on the Bill
to Clause 9 (1), (2), and (3), and as pointed out, it will
be well to bring the form of the whole of this clause so
far as it relates to deserters into conformity with Sec-
tion 238 of the Merchant Shipping Act. Sub-section 6,
however, deals more especially with imprisonment for
offences committed within the waters of the Colony, and
for which punishment is prescribed in paragraphs d, e
and g, of sub-clause 5 of clause 9.
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It is presumably intended to deal with these
offences, which are not under the provisions of Section
238 of the Merchant Shipping Act, but which are offences
the punishment for which can be conveniently arranged
for between the different nations. This therefore is,
presume, the reason why sub-clause 6 goes beyond the pro-
visions of Section 238 of the Merchant Shipping Act by
giving the Magistrate power, among other things, to
simply hand the offender over to his Consular authority
without specifying what is to become of him. As the
ship to which he belonged may have sailed, this in
itself may be a convenient power, but, as before stated,
is not one of the powers conferred by Section 238, unlesE
it can be said that the Consular Officer is for this
purpose an Agent for the owner of the vessel.
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