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Clause 6 repeals section 8 of the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance, which deals with the permit system for public entertainment.
To give effect to the relevant recommendations in Mr. Justice Bokhary's report on the Lan Kwai Fong incident, Clause 8 empowers the Licensing Authority to impose licence conditions, including conditions as regards crowd control measures and the provision of first aid services to better ensure the safety of participants in public entertainment events.
Clauses 11 to 12 add a new schedule to the Amusement Rides (Safety) Ordinance so as to define "amusement ride" to include manually driven devices which are capable of revolving through more than 90 degrees, including multi- axis chairs. The Secretary for Recreation and Culture is empowered to amend the new Schedule by regulation.
Mr President, the removal of the permit system on Bill of Rights grounds and the amendment to the Amusement Rides (Safety) Ordinance are proposed in response to public demands for promoting freedom of expression and public safety, respectively. I hope that the Bill will gain the support of Members of this Council.
Mr President, I beg to move.
End/Wednesday, May 3, 1995
Estate Duty (Amendment) Bill 1995
Following is the speech by the Secretary for the Treasury, Mr K C Kwong, in moving the second reading of the Estate Duty (Amendment) Bill 1995 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President.
I move that the Estate Duty (Amendment) Bill 1995 be read the second time.
The Bill before Members seeks to adjust the schedule of asset values for the purpose of assessing estate duty so as to offset the effect of inflation on the value of relatively small estates. Specifically it increases, from $5.5 million to $6 million, the level below which no duty is payable and adjust the bands correspondingly above this threshold. Thus estate duty will be payable at 6% on estates between $6 million and $7 million; 12% for estates between $7 million and $8 million; and 18% on estates over $8 million.
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