CO129-061 - Public Offices - 1856 — Page 270

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Double Police Rates VI. Over and above all other penalties and liabilities by this Ordinance imposed, the owner of every to be paid for Buildings Building constructed, reconstructed, or altered in contravention of this Ordinance shall pay in respect of illegally constructed, the same a periodical Police Rate of double the amount to which, but for such contravention he would have &c., until abatement.

been liable in respect of the said Building, yet so as that if the same shall be abated, diminished, or removed under the provisions of this Ordinance, the said owner shall cease to be liable to pay any such Police Rate in respect thereof.

Saving of Crown re- medies.

Privy.

VII. No remedies for breaches of contract committed by Crown lessees or others now vested in the Crown or its officers shall be prejudiced by this Ordinance.

Every House to have VIII. It shall not be lawful to construct, reconstruct, or (if now in the course of construction or re- Cooking Place and construction) to complete any House without a sufficient and safe Place for lighting of fires and cooking of Food; and also a sufficient Watercloset or Privy, and a sufficient Ashpit furnished with proper Doors and Coverings; All which shall be provided to the satisfaction of the Surveyor General, and from time to time emptied and cleansed, at such periods as the Surveyor General may direct; and every Person offending against any of the enactments in this Section contained shall for every such offence forfeit and pay to the Crown a penalty not exceeding Fifty Dollars nor less than Ten Dollars.

Penalty.

The Surveyor Gen-

IX. The Surveyor General shall in case any House whether now existing or hereafter to be constructed eral shall require the or reconstructed shall not be provided or shall be imperfectly provided with any of the works in the last owner or occupier of any House to make immediately preceding section specified, or with one or more proper drain or drains to the said House of at good all deficiencies in least six inches in diameter, give written notice of every such deficiency to the owner or occupier of the works of that kind and said House, thereby requiring him to provide for and make good the said deficiency forthwith or within cause them to be made some specified and reasonable term to the satisfaction of the Surveyor General and in case the said owner good.

or occupier shall not obey or comply with the said requirement, the said Surveyor General shall cause the said works to be executed, and may recover the charges and expenses thereof together with his costs of procedure by summary application to a Stipendiary Magistrate, or any two Justices, who shall, in case of default in payment thereof, levy the amount so recovered by warrant of distress and sale upon the goods and chattels of such owner or occupier, without prejudice to the right of either party to recover over, retain, or deduct against the other the amount so paid or recovered.

Public and common X. The Surveyor General may provide and maintain in properand suitable situations common Waterclosets, privics, sewage places, Privies, Urinals, and other like conveniencies for public accommodation; and also proper Buildings, Pits, Places, etc., may be provided.

Boxes or other conveniencies for the temporary reception and collection of Sewage, Dung, Soil, Filth, Dust, Ashes, and Rubbish, yet so as not to occasion annoyance or nuisance; And all such matters so re- ceived or collected therein shall be vested in and may be disposed of at the discretion of and by the Sur- veyor General; And all the proceeds (if any) of such as shall in any wise be so disposed of shall be Works contravening paid into the Colonial Treasury on account of the Crown,

this Ordinance to be

deemed a Nuisance.

Ruinous Buildings to

be deemed Nuisances.

XI. Every work whatsoever hereafter to be commenced, resumed, prosecuted, or finished in contraven- tion of this Ordinance shall be deemed a Nuisance.

XII. Every Building, or Part of a Building, being in a ruinous or dangerous condition, shall be deemed

Buildings erected of a Nuisance.

inflammable Materials

to be deemed Nui-

sances.

XIII. Every Building erected or to be hereafter erected of any inflammable material, in such wise as to endanger any neighbouring Building, shall be deemed a Nuisance.

Deposits or accuniu- XIV. Every deposit or accumulation of decaying, noisome, noxious, or offensive matter, in, on, or under lations of decaying mat- any tenement, Crown land, or way, or water, or Drain or Sewer, whereby the health of the Queen's ter, &c., to be deemed Subjects may be endangered, shall be deemed a Nuisance.

Nuisances.

Projections from

XV. Every projection from or over any Building which shall cause annoyance or obstruction to any Buildings to be deemed way or to the Passengers thereon, and every encroachment on, over, or under any way or any Crown land

shall be deemed a Nuisance.

Nuisances,

Nuisances by the Law XVI. Every Work which would be deemed a Nuisance in England if begun, conducted, or completed of Fagland shall be dee- there, shall within this Colony be deemed a Nuisance.

med Nuisances here.

Summary proceed-

sance.

XVII. The Surveyor General shall summon every person guilty of any of the Nuisances hereinbefore ing in cases of Nui- enumerated before a Stipendiary Magistrate, or any two Justices of the Peace who shall thereupon proceed in a summary way to enquire into and adjudicate upon the premises after the manner of other summary proceedings before Justices of the Peace; And where he or they shall adjudicate any one person to have been guilty of any of the said Nuisances, he or they or any other Justice of the Peace shall, upon the appli- cation of the Surveyor General, order him or any other proper officer to abate, demolish, or remove the said Nuisance, and to sell and dispose of the Materials thereof (if any) and out of the monies arising by such sale or disposition (if any) to retain or pay the charges and expenses of or incident to such abatement, de- molition, or removal; And the said Magistrate, Justices, or Justice shall order and compel all Persons who shall have been found guilty of any such Nuisance, after such adjudication as aforesaid, to satisfy all charges and expenses of or incident to the abatement, demolition, or removal thereof, and for which no other or no sufficient satisfaction is hereby provided, and shall thereupon, by warrant under his or their Hand and Seal, or Hands and Seals, cause the same to be levied by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the said persons respectively in case of default in payment.

of distress.

House property to

XVIII. In the event of the insufficiency of any distress to be made under this Ordinance, the house of be liable for deficiency the defaulter shall be subject and liable to defray the deficiency; and a Stipendiary Magistrate or Justice of the Peace upon the application of the Surveyor General shall by warrant authorize and direct a proper officer to seize and take possession of the said house, and to hold the same until such deficiency shall be defrayed, and all the accruing rents and profits of the said house shall be applied by the said Magistrate or Justice in payment of the said deficiency.

Tanks, Reservoirs,

XIX. The Surveyor General and his Officers are authorised to seize any Utensil, which he or they and building materials, shall detect any person in the act of dipping into any public Tank, or Reservoir; and also all building ma- terials found by him or them deposited or lying upon any public Road, or in the side channels thereof; and all Utensils or Materials so seized may be lawfully confiscated by the Surveyor General, and disposed of as he shall direct.

Saving of existing

remedies.

XX. All existing remedies for the prevention or abatement of Nuisances and the punishment of those guilty thereof shall continue to be in force notwithstanding this Ordinance.

JOHN BOWRING.

Passed the Legislative Council of Hongkong,

this 16th Day of April, 1856.

L. D'ALMADA E CASTRO,

Clerk of Councils.

HONGKONG.

ANNO DECIMO NONO VICTORIÆ REGINÆ. No. 12 of 1856.

BY His Excellency Sir JOHN BOWRING, Knight, LL.D., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies and Vice-Admiral of the same, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of the Trade of British Subjects in China, with the Advice of the Legislative Council of Hongkong.

An Ordinance to regulate Chinese Burials, and to prevent certain Nuisances, within the Colony of Hongkong.

[12th June, 1856.]

Whereas the increase of Population and Buildings in the City of Victoria has made it necessary to provide other arrangements for the Interment of the Dead, and whereas there exist certain Nuisances which the Laws hitherto in force have failed effectually to prevent: Be it therefore enacted and ordained by His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, in manner following, that is to say:

Preamble.

Interpretation

of

I. For the construction as well of this Ordinance as of Ordinance No. 14 of 1845, the Ordinance No. 2 of 1854, the Ordinance No. 8 of 1856, and the Ordinance No. 11 of 1856, the following Rules of Construction terms. shall be observed in addition to whatsoever other Rules are by the said Ordinances respectively provided, that is to say:-

The expressions "Public Officer" or "Public Department" shall extend to and include His Excel- «Public Officer" or lency the Governor and every Officer or Department invested with or performing duties of a public nature," Department." whether under immediate control of His Excellency or not.

The expression "Lawful Authority" shall extend to and denote any Permission which may be law- fully given by a Public Officer or Department or by a Private Person.

Where no specific Description is given of the Ownership of any Property, the word « Property" shall be taken to apply to all such Property of the kinds specified, whether owned by the Crown, by a Public Department, or by a Private Person.

Lawful Authority."

"Property,"

The Governor in

II. It shall be lawful for His Excellency in Executive Council from time to time to select and appoint, and by advertisement in the Hongkong Government Gazette to notify, sufficient and proper Places to be the Executive Council to Sites of, and to be used as, Cemeteries or Places of Burial for the Chinese; and from time to time to alter, vary, nese Cemeteries, & e.

appoint Sites for Chi- and repeal the said Notifications by others, to be advertised in the like manner; and in such Cemeteries or Places it shall be lawful for the Chinese, in conformity with the Provisions of the Notifications actually in force, to bury their Dead, yet so as that any person who shall use for that purpose a Grave of less than Five Feet in depth from the ordinary surface of the ground to the uppermost side of the Corpse or Coffin therein depo- sited, shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding Fifty Dollars, nor less than Five Dollars.

Power to close Chi-

III. His said Excellency in Executive Council is authorized from time to time to notify, by advertise- ment in the Hongkong Government Gazette, that any Chinese Cemetery or Burial Ground shall, from a time in nese Cemeteries. such Notification to be specified, be closed, and the same shall be closed accordingly; and whosoever after the expiration of the said specified time shall bury any Corpse in the said Cemetery or Burial Ground shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding One Hundred Dollars nor less than Five.

Penaltics on Burials

IV. Whosoever shall bury any Corpse or Coffin in any Ground not being a Cemetery or Burial Ground authorised under this or any other Ordinance, shall (except in cases provided for by Section Three of this where than in Ce- Ordinance) for every such his offence forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding One Hundred Dollars nor less

than Five.

meteries, &c.

V. The penalties in Sections Three and Four specified shall be deemed to be cumulative and not Further penalties on substituted penalties, in any case where the commission of any of the Offences to which the same are appli. Burials being Nuisan- cable shall occasion a Nuisance within the meaning of Ordinance No. 8 of 1856, Section Fourteen.

ees, &c. VI. The Offences next hereinafter specified shall be deemed to be Nuisances within the meaning of all Nuisances punish- Laws, at any time in force within this Colony, for the better repression of Nuisances, save that the Court able, at the discretion or Justices before whom any person shall be found guilty of any such offence, in lieu of all other punishment of the Court. for the same, shall order him for every such offence to pay a penalty not exceeding One Hundred Dollars nor less than One Dollar, that is to say;

1. The Felling, Cutting, Destroying or Injuring of any standing or growing Tree, Shrub, or Under-

Injury to Trees, wood, any Grass-sod or Turf, or any Fence or Portion thereof (except in cases where any such Shrubs, Turf, or Fen- offence shall be proved to have been committed with a felonious intention).

ces.

2. The doing any act whereby Injury or Obstruction, whether directly or consequentially, may accrue Injury or Obstruc- to a Public Road, Path, or Walk, or to the Shore of the Sea, or to Navigation, Mooring, or Anchor- tion to Ways, Seashore, age, Transit or Traffic, or whereby any other Nuisance within the meaning of Ordinance No. 8 of Navigation, &e. 1856, Sections Fourteen, Fifteen, and Sixteen, whether directly or consequentially, may happen.

3. The trespassing, by Man or Beast, upon or in any Messuage, Teuement, Cemetery, or Land being Trespass on Public

vested in or under the control or management of any Public Officer, or Department whatsoever. Lands, &c. And 4. The obeying the calls of nature on any Way or in any public exposed or other improper

ludecency. Place, to the annoyance of others.

VII. It shall be lawful for the Court or Justices before whom any person shall be found guilty of any Whipping may be offence against Division One or Division Four of Section Six of this Ordinance, to order him, in lieu of all substituted in the case of offences against other punishment, to be once or twice publicly whipped, yet so as that no Offender shall receive in all for Section VI Divisions I any one such offence more than Fifty Blows nor less than Five.

and 4.

VIII. Upon proof made to the satisfaction of the Court or Justices that a person accused of any Nuisance Extension of penal- or Offence under this Ordinance, or any of the said enumerated Ordinances, is in fact guilty of having pro- ties to Accessaries. cured, permitted, connived at, or continued any such Nuisance or Offence, or of having neglected or refused to perform any Duty cast upon him by Law for the prevention or repression of the same, the said Court or Justices shall find the said person guilty of the said Nuisance or Offence, and shall award against him the penalty or other punishment to which persons guilty of the said Nuisance or Offence are or shall be liable. IX. This Ordinance shall be read together with the Ordinances enumerated in Section One, and shall be incorporated therewith.

Incorporation with former Ordinances.

X. All suummary proceedings under this Ordinance, or the said enumerated Ordinances, (except pro- Except in case of ceedings under Ordinance No. 8 of 1856, Sections Two to Nine, both inclusive) may be had upon the illegal works, &c., any information of any Complainant: But the disposal of Materials of Nuisances, of Building Materials, and of Complainant may be Utensils under Sections Seventeen and Nineteen of the last-mentioned Ordinance, shall be at the absolute heard. discretion of the Surveyor General.

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Costs may be given.

English Law of Nui- sances to come in force

within this Colony.

Orders, &c., of the Board of Health.

XI. The Court, or Justices before whom any proceedings whatsoever shall be had under this Ordinance or the said enumerated Ordinances, may award Costs and Expenses to be paid by any Offender upon conviction, and to enforce payment thereof by any of the ways and means prescribed by Ordinance No. 8 of 1856 in respect of penalties.