Objects and Reasons.
1. The long title of the Vagrancy Ordinance, 1897, is An Ordinance to amend the law relating to vagrants". The Ordinance however deals with "mendicants as well as
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vagrants"; and, as it is now intended to include provisions relating to "destitutes "who do not belong to the Colony and cannot prove that they are or have the status of British subjects, clause 2 of this Bill extends the long title of the Ordinance by the addition of the words "destitutes and mendicants" after the word " vagrants".
2. Clause 3 of the Bill adds to section 2 of the Ordinance a definition of "destitute" adapted from the terms of the definition of "destitute person in section 2 (1) (c) of the Deportation (British Subjects) Ordinance, No. 16 of 1936.
3. Clause 4 of the Bill adds a new section, 24A, to the Vagrancy Ordinance, 1897. Sub-section (1) follows, mutatis mutandis the terms of section 5 of that Ordinance. The first part of sub-section (2) is generally on the lines of section 6 of the 1897 Ordinance. The latter part is derived partly from section 2 (2) and section 3 (c) of Ordinance No. 16 or 1936, which relate to the deportation of destitute immigrant British subjects not belonging to the Colony, and partly from section 13 (2) of Ordinance No. 8 of 1934 which relates to magisterial expulsion orders for contraventions of the Immigration and Passports Ordinance. Sub-section (3) is adapted from section 13 (3) of Ordinance No. 8 of 1934 and from the amendments made to sections 3 and 4 of that Ordinance by sections 2 and 3 of Ordinance No. 23 of 1935. Sub-section (4) provides a penalty for expelled persons who return within five years, a much lighter penalty than that provided by section 13 of the Deportation of Aliens Ordinance, No. 39 of 1935.
4. Although there is provision as stated above in the legislation of this Colony for the deportation of destitute British subjects who do not belong to the Colony and also for the expulsion of immigrants who enter the Colony in contra- vention of the Immigration and Passports Ordinance, there is no provision except in the Emergency Regulations providing for the expulsion of those aliens who are not required to have passports or travel papers, who do not belong by birth or residence to the Colony, who pass in freely whenever they desire, who are destitute and unable to find work and who therefore can look only to public funds or private charity for their subsistence. Convicted alien mendicants can be deported under the Deportation of Aliens Ordinance, No. 39 of 1935, but it is considered more suitable in most cases that mendicants should be expelled under the new provisions introduced by this Bill.
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5. Clause 5 of the Bill adds the words a mendicant or a destitute" after the word "vagrant" in section 26 of the 1897 Ordinance so as to bring mendicants and destitutes within the scope of that section. It is a necessary corollary to give effect to sub-section (1) of the new section 24A.
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October, 1939.
C. G. ALABASTER,
Attorney General.