356
43
355
42
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
MOTIONS.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL moved the following Resolu- tion:
RESOLVED that ex gratia pensions should be granted in cases where the grant of such pensions would have been permissible under section 17 of the Pensions Ordinance, 1949, if the words
44
or
an officer who was in the service of this Colony and was detained in the Far Eastern area during the period of the Japanese invasion and occupation dies before the thirty first day of August, 1952, when death was directly attributable to aggravated by the circumstances of such detention and without his own default, or where appeared between the words "Where" and "any" in the first line of sub-section (1) of section 17 of the said Ordinance.
""
He said: Sir, Under section 17 of the Pensions Ordinance, 1949 gratuities may be paid to the widow and children or other dependants of a deceased officer dying from injuries received in the actual discharge of his duty. This would not cover the case of death during internment attributable to or aggravated by the circumstance of such internment.
The object of this Resolution is to grant a discretionary power of awarding gratuities in such cases. The date, August, 1952, represents in most cases a period of seven years from the end of the period of internment. The words "ex gratia" impart that the power to grant pensions is a discretionary one. similar course was adopted in March, 1947 under the Pensions Ordinance, 1932.
A
I formally move the first Resolution standing in my name.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Motion was carried.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL moved the following Resolu- tion:
RESOLVED that ex gratia additions to pensions should be granted in cases where such additions would have been permissible under Regulation 31 of Pensions Regula- tions, 1949, if the words
or where an officer holding a pensionable office in which he has been confirmed who was in the service of this Colony and was detained in the Far Eastern area during the period of the Japanese invasion and occupation, has been injured without
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
35
his own default, by some injury or ill health attributable to or aggravated by the conditions of such detention, and during the period that such injury or the effects of such aggravation exists appeared between the word and cypher "duty-" in the sixth line of paragraph 1 of Regulation 31 in the said Pensions Regulations.
He said: Sir, under Regulation 31 of the Pensions Regula- tions, 1949 an officer who has been permanently injured in the actual discharge of his duties may, if his retirement is thereby accelerated or necessitated, be granted an additional pension on retirement.
The object of this Resolution is to enable ex gratia addi- tional pensions to be granted in the case where an officer was injured by injury or ill health attributable to or aggravated by detention during the Japanese invasion,
I formally move the second Resolution standing in my name.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Motion was carried.
REVISED EDITION OF THE LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 1950.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL moved the First reading of a Bill intituled "An Ordinance to amend the Revised Edition of the Laws Ordinance, 1948." He said: Sir, I have very little to add to the Objects and Reasons and what I have to say relates more to the background in which the Bill was conceived rather than to the actual provisions of the Bill.
Although we have not made final arrangements with the printers, we expect to do so shortly. It will then be possible to commence the printing of the revised edition. I am perhaps to be excused if I refer to the delay in making these arrangements as in some way fortunate if I explain that such delay has suggested the amendments introduced by this amending Bill, and that if these are approved the Commissioners will be able to produce a better and more complete revised edition of the laws. In particular, we shall now be able to include a number of amending Ordinances passed in 1949 and 1950, some of which, such as the Magistrates Amendment Ordinance, 1949, made valuable amendments to important branches of the law.
Meanwhile, the Commissioners have not been idle and the new Interpretation Ordinance has already passed through this Council and it is hoped that there will shortly be presented to this Council the first of the Omnibus Ordinances sanctioned by section 6 of the principal Ordinance and which tidies up in minor respects over fifty different Ordinances.
The more