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13. The total number of persons committed to prison in the year 1988 was 11,439 as compared with 7,798 in 1932. The daily average number of prisoners in the prisons in 1933 was 1,472. The highest previous average was 1,189 in 1927. Over 90% of prisoners admitted are persons born outside the Colony.
14. The health of the prisoners generally was well main- tained in the prisons.
15. The discipline in all three prisons was good.
16. Prisoners are employed at printing, bookbinding, tinsmithing, matmaking, tailoring, carpentering, weaving, gardening, laundry work, cleaning and minor repairs to buildings: The bulk of the Government printing and bookbinding is done in Victoria Gaol.
17. A small separate ward is reserved in Victoria Gaol for Juveniles who are kept as far as possible apart from other prisoners. The daily average number of Juveniles in 1933 was 4.1. A school-master attends daily to instruct them. In 1929 the daily average was high and a separate hall was set aside at Lai Chi Kok for Juveniles, but the number is now so small that it has been found more expedient to deal with them in Victoria Gaol.
18. Police Magistrates may, under the provisions of the Magistrates Ordinance No. 41 of 1932, give time for the payment of fines.
19. Lady visitors attend the Female Prison twice weekly to instruct the prisoners in hand-work and to impart elementary education.
20. Visiting Justices inspect and report on the prisons every fortnight.
Chapter XIV.
LEGISLATION.
Thirty Ordinances were passed during the year 1933. These and also the Regulations, Rules, By-laws and other subsidiary legislative enactments are published in a separate volume by the Government Printers. The thirty Ordinances comprised two appropriation, one replacement, one incorpora- tion, four consolidation, twenty amendment, and two Ordinances which were new to the Colony.
2. The Appropriation Ordinance (No. 19) applied a sum not exceeding $27,029,235 to the public service for the year 1934, and Ordinance No. 11 appropriated a supplementary sum of $517,015.30 to defray the charges of the year 1982.
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3. The replacement Ordinance was the Public Works Loan Redemption Ordinance (No. 15), which provided for the redemption of the bonds issued under the authority of the Public Works Loan Ordinance, 1927, repealed.
4. Ordinance No. 18 incorporated the Procurator in Hong Kong of the Pontifical Foreign Missions Institute,
5. The following Ordinances, viz: Arms and Ammunition (No. 2), Full Court (No. 8), Volunteer (No. 10) and Miscellaneous Licences (No. 25) consolidated and to some extent amended the existing law on these subjects.
6. The Ordinances new to the Colony were the Mercantile Marine Assistance Fund Ordinance (No. 24) and the Naval Volunteer Ordinance (No. 30). Of these, Ordinance No. 24 establishes a fund for services similar to those performed by like fuuds in the Straits Settlements and India, and in England by the Mercantile Marine Masters and Officers Relief Fund. The local fund is administered by a Committee financed by the revenue of the Colony. Ordinance No. 30 is based on a model prepared in England for enactment by the legislatures of this and other Colonies.
7. The twenty amending Ordinances covered a wide range of subjects, viz: Code of Civil Procedure (Nos. 1 and 13), Printers and Publishers (No. 3), Supreme Court (Nos. 4 and 12), Criminal Procedure (No. 5), Summary Offences (Nos. 6 and 26), New Territories Regulation (No. 7), Divorce (No. 9), Probates (No. 14), Opium (No. 16), Betting Duty (No. 17), Dangerous Goods (No. 20), Industrial and Reformatory Schools (No. 21), Juvenile Offenders (No. 22), Bankruptcy and Magistrates (No. 23), Telephone (No. 27), Merchant Shipping (No. 28) and Companies (No. 29).
8. Three Ordinances (No. 9, Divorce Amendment, on 1st November, 1933, and Nos. 21, Industrial and Reformatory Schools, and 22, Juvenile Offenders, on 20th November, 1933), were brought into operation by Proclamation on the same dates as the principal Ordinances which they amend, and Nos. 27 (Telephone Amendment) and 29 (Companies Amendment) are expressed to commence on 1st January, 1934.
9. Similarly, the subsidiary legislation covered a wide range of subjects, including Public Places Regulation, Vagrancy, Criminal Procedure, Merchant Shipping, Civil Procedure, Gunpowder and Fireworks, Public Health and Buildings, Advertisements, Vehicles and Traffic Regulation, Education, Boarding Houses, Ferries, Places of Public Entertainment Regulation, Post Office, Public Revenue Protection, Liquors, Tobacco, Factories and Workshops, Divorce, Police Pensions, Prisons, Companies, and Naval Volunteer Force.
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