+
10.
To avoid possible doubts and to reflect the intention of the Administration accurately, we therefore propose that, instead of repealing the whole of section 22(3) of the Ordinance, it should be amended by substituting the words "shall be published in the Gazette but" with "shall be published, for information, in such manner as the Council thinks fit and". The new proposed amendment has the added advantage of enabling the HKIEd Council to determine how the rules are to be published.
The proposed Committee Stage Amendment to clause 10 of the Bill has been agreed by the House Committee of this Council.
Mr President, I beg to move.
End
Measures to prevent VM arrival
Following are a question by the Hon Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Peter Lai, at the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
It is reported that there has been a significant increase in the number of Vietnamese migrants (VMs) arriving in the territory in recent months. Will the Government inform this Council:
(a)
(b)
of the up-to-date figure of VMs who have arrived in the territory since January this year and how this figure compares to those in the previous two years; and
what measures have been put in place to prevent VMs from arriving in the territory?
Reply:
Mr President,
As at 15 November 1996, 967 Vietnamese migrants have arrived in Hong Kong this year. The four months of July - October have seen the highest number of arrivals, averaging 178 VMs per month. Since then, the arrival rate has slackened: in the first half of this month, the number of arrivals went down to 24. The number of Vietnamese migrants arriving in HK in 1994 and 1995 were 363 and 460 respectively.