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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Statements under Section 12.
The China Hong Nin Life Insurance Company, Limited.
The Sincere Life Assurance Company, Limited.
The Wing On Life Assurance Company, Limited.
The Luk Hoi Tong Life Assurance Company, Limited.
West Coast Life Insurance Company.
Statements under Section 13.
Tai Shan Insurance Company, Limited.
China Insurance Company, Limited.
The Central Trust of China.
FINANCE COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by command of H.E. The Officer Administering the Government, laid on the table the Report of the Finance Committee (No. 10), dated 19th December, 1940, and moved that it be adopted.
THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY seconded, and this was agreed to.
PLACES OF PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT REGULATION AMENDMENT BILL, 1941.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill intituled "An Ordinance to amend the Places of Public Entertainment Regulation Ordinance, 1919." He said: The object of this Bill is to put an end to a nuisance which is explained in the Memorandum of Objects and Reasons. The practice of block-booking is well-known throughout the world, and in many places it is more convenient for customers to buy their tickets at an agency than to travel some distance and wait at the entrance of a theatre till the booking office is open. But here, as explained in the final paragraph of the Memorandum, it has become a racket and something more than a ramp; it has resulted in several assaults on members of the public and even in a street murder outside a theatre. It has a very distant connection with finance as well, because under the Entertainment Tax Ordinance, the tax varies with the price paid for admission, and the price paid for admission when paid to these touts is never the price on which we can base the entertainment tax.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a first time.
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