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FRIDAY, JULY 7, 1978
+AT THE SAME TIME AS THE NEW LIGHT RAIL VEHICLES ARE BEING CRDERED, SPECIAL TUNNELS FOR THEM WILL BE CONSTRUCTED AT CHAI WAN AND BETWEEN ADMIRALTY AND CHATER/PEDDER STATIONS OF THE MTR,+ MR. JONES SAID.
+THIS LATTER TUNNEL WILL PROVIDE A GOOD INTERCHANGE BETWEEN THE MODIFIED INITIAL SYSTEM OF THE MTR AND THE LIGHT RAIL SYSTEM. BY 1982 THE TSUEN WAN EXTENSION OF THE MTR WILL ALSO BE IN OPERATION AND THIS WILL RESULT IN AN INTEGRATED, RAIL-BASED SYSTEM STRETCHING FROM TSUEN WAN TO CHAT WAN.+
MR. JONES SAID THAT DURING THE FEASIBILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION STUDIES A DECISION WOULD BE TAKEN ON WHETHER TO BUILD THE TUNNELS AT CHAI WAN AND AT CENTRAL TO THE DIMENSIONS NECESSARY TO TAKE THE BIGGER MTR COACHES. IF THE DECISION TO DO SO WERE TAKEN, THEN, WHEN THE SYSTEM WENT FULLY UNDERGROUND, IT COULD CARRY 60,000 PASSENGERS AN HOUR IN EACH DIRECTION BY CONTRAST WITH THE EXISTING TRAMWAY'S MAXIMUM CAPACITY OF 8,000 PASSENGERS AN HOUR, MR. JONES SAID.
ASSESSORS TO SIT WITH MAGISTRATES IN
ADVISORY CAPACITY PROPOSED
******
A BILL DESIGNED TO ENABLE MAGISTRATES TO HEAR AND DECIDE. ON CASES WITH THE ADVICE OF LAY ASSESSORS WHO ARE LOCAL PEOPLE, NOT QUALIFIED IN LAW, BUT FLUENT IN CANTONESE AND ENGLISH, WAS PUBLISHED IN THE GOVERNMENT GAZETTE TODAY.
A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAID THESE LAY ASSESSORS PROPOSED UNDER THE MAGISTRATES (AMENDMENT) BILL 1978, WOULD BE GENERALLY FAMILIAR WITH CHINESE CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS AND INVOLVED AT ALL STAGES OF CASES COMING BEFORE THE MAGISTRATES WITH WHOM THEY WERE SITTING.
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THE SPOKESMAN' SAID THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE WOULD VERY OFTEN HELP THEM TO FOLLOW EVIDENCE DIRECTLY THOUGH THE COURT INTERPRETATION WOULD OF COURSE REMAIN PARAMOUNT AND ALSO TO FOLLOW DIRECTLY REPRESENTATIONS AND POINTS BEING MADE BY UNREPRESENTED DEFENDANTS.
THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO ASSIST IN ASSESSING THE CREDIBILITY OF WITNESSES AND BE EXPECTED TO PUT FORWARD TO MAGISTRATES VIEWS OF THE COMMUNITY ABOUT PARTICULAR OFFENCES IN THE CONTEXT OF SENTENCING.
THEIR ROLE AS ADVISERS TO MAGISTRATES WOULD MEAN THAT THEY WOULD NOT THEMSELVES PARTICIPATE IN THE PROCEEDINGS, UNLESS INVITED TO DO SO BY A MAGISTRATE.
/GENERALLY +