supplied (whether directly or indirectly) by persons who have, or may reasonably be supposed to have, personal knowledge of the matters dealt with in the information they supply; and
(b) the person who supplied the information recorded in the statement in question is dead, or beyond the seas, or unft by reason of his bodily or mental condition to attend as a witness, or cannot with reasonable diligence be identified or found. or cagnol reasonably be expected (having regard, to the time which has elapsed since he supplied) the information and to all the circumstances) to have any recollection of the matters dealt with in the information he supplied.
(2) For the purpose of deciding whether or not statement is admissible as evidence by virtue of this section, the court may draw any reasonable inference from the form or content of the document in which the statement is con- tained, and may, in deciding whether or not a person is fit to attend as a witness, act on a certificate purporting to be a certificate of a medical practitioner.
(3) In estimating the weight, if any, to be attached to a statement admissible as evidence by virtue of this section regard shall be had to all the circumstances from which any inference can reasonably be drawn as to the accuracy or otherwise of the statement, and, in particular, to the ques- tion whether or not the person who supplied the informa- tion recorded in the statement did so contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the facts stated, and to the question whether or not that person, or any person concerned with making or keeping the record containing the statement, had any incentive to conceal or misrepresent the facts.
(4) In this section- "business" includes the postal service, any public transport and any other public utility or similar undertaking. carried on by a public body or by any other public authority or organization;
"document" includes any device by means of which in-
formation is recorded or stored; and
"statement" includes any representation of fact, whether
made in words or otherwise.
(5) Nothing in this section shall prejudice the admis- sibility of any evidence which would be admissible apart from the provisions of this section.”.
3.
3
Subsection (1) of section 57 of the principal Ordinance is Amendment repealed and replaced by the following-
"(1) On an application made on oath or by affidavit any judge of the Supreme Court may issue a warrant or order for bringing up any person in lawful custody before any court (as defined in section 2) to be examined as a witness in any proceed- ings before such court.
(1A) On an application made on oath or by affidavit any District Judge or magistrate may issue a warrant or order for bringing up any person in lawful custody before the District Court or a magistrate, as the case may be, to be examined as a witness in any proceedings before such court or magistrate.”.
This printed impression has been carefully compared by me with the Bill which passed the Legislative Council on the 6th day of July, 1966, and is found by me to be a true and correctly printed copy of the said Bill.
(Secretariat GR6/3231/65)
Depury
Clerk of Councils.
of section 17.