3.
17
Section 24 of the New Territories Regulation
Ordinance, 1910, provides that except by way of appeal no
proceeding relating to land in the New Territories shall
be commenced in the Supreme Court unless the Crown is a
party, or unless the Land Officer shall certify that the
capital value thereof exceeds $500. There is one exception
to this provision, i.e., when the land in question has been exempted from the Ordinance under section 13 (2). It would
appear that the issue of a distress warrant is a proceeding
relating to land, within the meaning of the above Ordinance,
and that the issue of a distress warrant is a proceeding
in the Supreme Court. It would therefore appear to be
impossible to issue a distress warrant for any part of the
New Territories except in cases falling under 13 (2),
under the exceptions in section 24 of the New Territories
Regulation Ordinance. This is inconvenient in the case of
New Kowloon, where in many cases the conditions are more
similar to those of the old Colony than to those of the
New Territories. Accordingly, section 4 of this Ordinance
provides that the provisions of the Distress for Rent
Ordinance, 1883, shall extend to New Kowloon.
4.
or
In my opinion this is an Ordinance to which His
Excellency the Governor may properly assent in the name of
His Majesty and on His behalf.
76. E. Porloch
Attorney General.