CO129-412 - Governor Sir May - 1914 [7-8] — Page 47

C.O

31768

42

N°

256.

# 22 AUG 14

GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

HONGKONG. 17th July, 1914.

sir, t

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No.140 of the 5th of June in which you inform me that His Majesty will not be advised to exercise his power of disallowance in respect of the Electricity Supply Amendment Ordinance, 1914.

2.

with regard to paragraph 2 of your despatch I would point out that Mr. Buckmill, who drafted the Ordinance, evidently intended the words "retrospectively" and "this Ordinance to refer to the Amending Ordinance, though in strict- ness they refer to Ordinance No.18 of 1911. There is no intent- ion, however, to deal with any Company which had ceased to exist before the date of coming into operation of the Amending Ordin- ance, and although the Principal Ordinance as amended seems to render criminally liable any failure to comply with the regula- tions between the commencement of the Principal Ordinance and the commencement of the Amending Ordinance on the part of companies which formerly did not come within the scope of the law, no action would be taken against these companies in respect of such liability. For these reasons I do not propose to cor- rect the sub-section by an amending Ordinance.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LEWIS HARCOURT, M.P.,

&C.

80.

I have the honour to be,

sir,

Your most obedient,

humble servant,

7

Governor,&c.