HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
233
Now, Sir, the need for such re-inforcement of legislation would, of course, greatly diminish or disappear when peace returns to China, but on the teachings of history, it may be that the need for legislative re-inforcement on this topic will occur again in future. For this reason, Sir, clause 14 of the Bill makes provision for suspension and revival of the legislation by resolution of this Council as conditions in the Colony from time to time may dictate.
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. Hong Kong has traditionally allowed free ingress to Chinese except in times of emergency and the situation of the Colony's land frontier and the ease with which small water-borne craft can move in and out of the Colony's waters render control of such movement difficult and incomplete.
2. In these circumstances and because of the incentive to enter which is presented while unrest prevails in China, the Colony has at this date a population greatly in excess of what it is capable of absorbing.
3. The necessity is therefore presented of providing legislation which would enable action to be taken to expel persons who constitute undesirable elements in the surplus population and as such present serious problems in the maintenance of public order, safety and health within the Colony. The object of this Bill is to provide such legisla-
tion.
4. The scheme envisaged by the Bill is that a competent authority after a summary inquiry and recording a finding that an individual is undesirable, may make an order expelling such individual from the Colony (clause 3), unless he satisfies the competent authority that he is a British subject or that he has been ordinarily resident in the Colony for ten years or more.
5. The prescribed inquiry will be a summary inquiry following the general lines of the summary procedure employed by a magistrate in the trial of summary offences but with certain modifications. (See clause 5 of the Bill.) The inquiry will be held at any authorized place, an expression which is given a wide interpretation by clause 2 of the Bill. (See the interpretation given to "place of detention" and "
'accommodation camp".) This is necessitated by the fact that in order to proceed with despatch it will be necessary to collect and detain suspected undesirables in camps or houses of detention. Power to establish camps is given to the Governor in Council by clause 6 and power to detain and remove undesirables and suspected undesirables is given to a police officer by clause 7. Further provision for detention and remand pending the prescribed inquiry and pending expulsion pursuant to an order, is made by clause 10.
20.
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