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Extract from Pys 63-64 of HR. Legis Council minstes of 25-4-40.
SUMMARY OFFENCES AMENDMENT BILL, 1940.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL moved the second reading of a Bill intituled "An Ordinance to amend the Summary Offences Ordinance, 1932."
HON. MR. M. K. LO.-The gravity of the problem of Tuberculosis in Hong Kong has been fully appreciated by many people for many years. I recall that when I had the honour of serving on the Sanitary Board, now the Urban Council, I initiated a motion on the subject in the course of which I urged the necessity of having a sanatorium built But, for the purpose not only of segregation but of treatment and cure. as usual with difficult problems, this particular problem has had to wait for the advent of a Director of Medical Services with the fervour and zeal, the indomitable spirit of persistence and insistence which characterise my honourable friend, Dr. Selwyn-Clarke, before any real or substantial progress could be made.
As to how far indiscriminate spitting is a direct cause of the prevalence of Tuberculosis in the Colony, I am not competent to speak. But that it is an important contributory cause, and that it is a thoroughly disgusting habit which should be eradicated, must be obvious to all. Intensive propaganda against this deplorable habit has been taken from time to time, in the belief, which I consider to be sound, that no practical legislative measure can effectively be taken for its suppression without the necessary background of popular knowledge as to its ill effects, and of public co-operation. But it has become increasingly apparent that by propaganda by itself, by popular education by itself, and without some legal sanction behind these efforts, satisfactory progress cannot be achieved. If, for instance, a policeman or a sanitary inspector were politely to draw the attention of an offender to his unsocial act of indiscriminate spitting, and if a rude retort were made to the speaker "to mind his own business," the value of legal sanction in dealing with such a case is obvious.
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I understand that it is the intention of Government to continue and to intensify the existing programme of popular propaganda and education, rather than to resort to the penal powers under this Bill, and that such powers will be made use of only in cases of wilful discbedience.
Sir, I desire to say that I am in full agreement with the policy indicated above. Indeed, if the law were to be administered otherwise and people were to be arrested merely because a police officer felt he had to make up for his quota of arrests within a certain period, then this law would fail in its object and would create instead nothing but irritation and annoyance.
Lack of progress in public health matters has sometimes been ascribed by a section of the local Press to the so-called "reactionary" attitude on the part of the Chinese. May I, Sir, say that I have the permission of my honourable friend, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, to disclose that at the meeting of the District Watch Committee held on January 11, that Board unanimously approved of this measure on the understanding that it is the intention of the authorities to administer it in the way I have ventured to describe.
My colleagues and I heartily approve of this Bill and hope that (Applause). it will speedily achieve the result which we all have in view.
THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a second time.