MINUTES.
MINUTES NOT TO BE WRITTEN.
ON THIS SIDE.
N° 171.
Sir,
462
29631
4 NU
GOVERNMENT HOUSE.
HONGKONG. 23rd April, 1921.
With reference to Lord Milner's despatch
No.24 of 19th January, 1921, I have the honour to inform
For 6375220 you that the plucking and removal of plants growing on Crown
lend is already an offence under the Malicious Demage
Ordinance of 1865 but that the provisions of this Ordinance
have proved insufficient to prevent the destruction of
flowering plants owing to the great difficulty experienced
in detecting offenders.
2.
The application of the phrase "without lawful excuse has not been found to give use to any difficulty in practice and I would submit that the meaning of thie
expression, which is not an uncommon one in statutes, is sufficiently clear without definition. As an instance of
lawful excuse I would suggest the cese of a person who had
bought a whole plant in the reasonable belief that it had been imported, or the case of a police officer who had seized some azaleas with respect to which it was probable
that an offence had been committed.
3.
With reference to paragraph 2 of Lord Milner's despatch, I propose to recommend the addition of a further paragraph (c) to Regulation 2 of the Regulations made under the Ordinance providing that the Regulations shall not apply to whole plants which are grown in private gardens and which are removed with the consent of the owners or occupiers of
such gardens.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
&c.,
WINSTON CHURCHILL, M.P.,
&C.
&o..
4.