CO129-299 - Administrator Major Gen Gascoigne - 1900 [5-6] — Page 426

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Enclosure 2.

RE

C.O.

17

422

PEOP 9 TH 00

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE,

1st. June, 1900.

Report on Ordinance No.15 of 1900.

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I have examined the accompanying Ordinance, entitled

An Ordinance to consolidate and amend the law

providing for the grant of pensions to the widows and orphans of deceased public officers,

and I am of opinion that the Ordinance is one which is

not contrary to the Governor's Instructions.

This Ordinance consolidates and amends the law previously

contained in the various Ordinances specified in Section

38.

These amendments have all been sanctioned by the Secretary

of State except one, viz:- the insertion of the words

The or Tin Fong" in the definition of "wife". "Tin Pong",

in the case of a Chinese, is the principal wife married

after the death of the "Kit Fat" already mentioned in

the definition, and it is considered only fair that the

former should participate in the benefits of the Fund in

the same way as the Second or subsequent, wives of Europeans

or Asiatics other than Chinese.

As an instance of the hardship involved by exclusion,

take the case of a Chinese Officer who is a widower, so

far as the "Kit Fat" is concerned, on first Joining the

Service; he would have to contribute without any hope of

benefit unless he already had a family. It should be

distinctly