L 4 A
LOWE. BINGHAM & MATTHEWS, HONG KONG
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10
IV.
During the course of our examination, we raised
the question of the status of the organisation.
We pur-
sued enquiries with the Crown Solicitor, to whom we were
referred, and as we were unable to obtain a definite opin-
ion we now submit for your serious consideration certain
questions the answers to which, in our opinion, affect the
scope and authority on which the Organisation's transac-
tions have been conducted. It is emphasized that we have
accepted as in order all payments and transactions approved
by the officer-in-Charge, for the time being.
1.
The Organisation was brought into being as a direct
result of the Wholesale (Kowloon) Marketing (Vegetable)
Order 1946, made under the Defence Regulations.
Is this
organisation a Government department or not?
2. If it is not a Government department, what is
its legal constitution?
To whom do these funds belong?
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3.
a)
The Hong Kong Government, or
b)
4.
The farmers who have contributed to them
through the commission charges on the sales of their vegetables.
If this organisation is a Government department,
should not the whole of the income and expenditure be
approved by the Legislative Council and not only the salaries
covered by Head 5?
5.
If this fund belongs to the farmers, what regu-
lations are there laying down the means by which the income
and expenditure is to be approved?
6.
If the Wholesale Vegetable Market incurs a lia-
bility, e.g. Petrol is supplied by the Asiatic Petroleum
Company, Ltd. (approximately $10,000.00 per month) and the
Market does not pay this liability, whom does the Asiatic
Petroleum Company, Ltd. sue?
In the event of money being owed to the Market by
a member of the general public, i.a., for the sale of ferti-
7.