HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,
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Clause 8 of the Bill deals with the sections of the principal . Ordinance which refer to the power of making regulations. They are unsatisfactory as is explained in the Objects and Reasons in detail. In future it is proposed that all the police regulations, which do not impose any obligation on the public at all but are purely matters for the force itself, shall be made by the head of the force, but all regulations made by him will be circulated to the members of the Executive Council and the Governor in Council will have power to amend them in any manner whatsoever or to rescind them. These regulations will, in future, not be gazetted because, as I say, they do not impose obligations on the public but only on the members of the force.
Clauses 10, 11 and 12 adopt recent provisions of the English statute law relating to bail, arrest, and the discharge by officers in charge of police stations on recognizances where the officer in charge considers that further enquiry is necessary and he cannot complete that enquiry forthwith. These are all provisions which appear now in the English statute law and we are adopting them here. I beg to move the first reading.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a first time,
Objects and Reasons.
The "Objects and Reasons" for the Bill were stated as follows:-
1. The titles of the superior officers of the Police Force are about to be altered, and a new office of deputy to the chief officer of the force is about to be created, This will involve various amendments of the Police Force Ordinance, 1900, Ordinance No. 11 of 1900. The new titles will be Inspector General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police (the new post), and Divisional Superintendents. Sections 2, 3, 4, 9 and 13 of this Ordinance introduce the new titles into various sections of the principal Ordinance.
2. Section 5 gives statutory recognition to the practice of having a probationary period for police recurits, and provides that such probationary officers may be discharged during their probationary period if they prove unsatisfactory.
3. Section 6 of this Ordinance gives the Governor power to grant free passage in special cases before the completion of the ordin- ary statutory period of service.
4. Section 17 of the principal Ordinance gives the Governor in Council power to regulate the granting of pensions to members of the Police Force. By virtue of section 3 of the principal Ordinance the term "Police Force" includes, inter alia, the superior officers of the force. The pensions of these officers are in fact regulated by the general Pension Minutes, and not by any police pension regulations. The same remark applies to the civilian staff of the Police Force. In
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