CO129-410 - Governor Sir May - 1914 [3-5] — Page 199

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Enclosure

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Hon. Colonial Secretary,

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When introducing this new Deportation Bill, there is another small point in respect of which I think a slight amendment of Section 8 of the Deportation Ordinance 1912 is desirable. The point has been drawn to my attention by the Magistrates. You will observe that Section 8 provides the penalty for disobedience of a Deportation Order: it is divided into two sub-sections; sub- -section (1) provides the penalty in the case of a person who has been deported under the provisions of the Ordinance itself, and sub -section (2) provides the penalty in the case of a person who has been banished under the provisions of any enactment repealed by the Ordinmos. In sub-section (1) of Section 2, there are two provi -sos; the first proviso prescribes that where the person concerned is convicted on indictment, he shall be liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 3 years in cases where the period of banishment did not exceed 15 years but exceeded 5 years and to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 2 years in cases where the period of banishment did not exceed 5 years.

The second proviso prescribes that in any case in which

a person when brought before the Magistrate on a charge under the sub-section pleads guilty, the Magistrate may deal sumarily with the case and sentence such person to imprisonment for any term not exceeding one year. The Magistrate read these two provisos as mutually exclusive; that is to say they think that if the person brought before them on a charge under the sub-section does not plead guilty, they cannot deal summarily with the case at all. The language of the sub-section is rather curious, and although there is a good deal to be said against the lagistrates' contention, yet I would not like definitely to decide that they are wrong in their opinion, and I think it would be better if the wording of this Section was made clearer. To do this I should propose that the second proviso should be altered to read as follows:-

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