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Governor when (44) was received; indeed there was no time to do so before we heard that the Bill had been passed. In any case I think that, in the present situation we must accept the Governor's view on this for the time being. Mr. de Comarmond still thinks that discretionary powers would have been preferable but agrees that the matter should be left for the present. I suggest that the Governor should be asked to review the matter in six months' time and to let us know then whether he still thinks that mandatory rather than discretionary powers are needed.

The second point concerns Section 14. Mr. de Comarmond does not regard it as of great importance and I suggest that we take no action on this.

The third point concerns Section 24 which reads :

"In any prosecution under this Ordinance the

Magistrate may refer, for the purpose of evidence, to "The Triad Society or Heaven and Earth Association" by William Stanton and to any other published book or articles on the subject of unlawful societies in general or of particular unlawful societies which the Magistrate may consider to be of authority on the subject to which they relate".

Mr. de Comarmond considers that as it stands this section goes against the basic principle of the law of evidence and that it should be burned loned down by adding the Proviso which he gives in 25 namely:-

"Provided always that the person charged shall

be given the opportunity of questioning or rebutting the authority of or the weight to be attached to any such book or articles".

The Attorney General doubts the desirability of this Proviso and states that the existing Societies Ordinance does not contain such provision. (Enclosure 2 to 48). The fact that the Proviso is not contained in the existing Ordinance does not seem to me a strong argument against its inclusion now. Nor does it seem likely that an amendment to the Ordinance so as to include this Proviso would be likely to give rise to any undesirable political reactions. It would be useful to know whether the point has arisen in connection with the Malayan Ordinance and for this purpose I am passing the file through Mr. 0.H. Morris. Subject to anything that may have been decided in the Federation and Singapore and to the approval of higher authority I would suggest that we should ask Hong Kong to amend the Ordinance by the addition of this Proviso.

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30 June 49.

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