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HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
"A deportation order may be made in
any of the following cases: —
(c) if the Secretary of State deems it to be conducive to the public good to make a deportation order against the alien."
The reference in the existing section to the Peace Preservation Ordinance is out of date, as the Ordinance has not been used for years.
3. The object of the first amendment effected by clause 3 is to remedy a dif- ficulty that might arise from a literal construction of the opening words of section of (14) of the Ordinance. It might be argued that, as the law stands at present, uo part of section 4 applies to British subjects, except to those classes specified in sub-section (14). The result would be that any proceedings under the section against a British subject would be illegal, though the nationality of the person in question might be discovered only in the course of the proceedings. It is, therefore, considered advisable to amend sub-section (14) by providing that sub-section (11) only, which deals with the actual deportation, shall not apply to British subjects. except the classes particularly specified.
4. The second amendment effected by clause 3 of the bill is based on Article 2
of the China (Amendment) Order-in- Council, No. 3, 1920, which was publish- ed in the Gate of May 20th, 1921. It is considered necessary to take power to deport any person whatsoever who, in the opinion of the Governor-n-Council, has acted or is about to act in a manner prejudicial to the public safety, etc.
5.-Clause 4 effects an amendment in Form No. 7 of the Schedule to the De portation Ordinance, 1917, by deleting the reference to the Peace Preservation Ordinance. 1886.
6.-Clause 5 is new and is based on Article 21 (3) of the Aliens Order, 1920. It provides that any person deported
Tobacco Ordinance
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill intituled, An Ordinance to amend the Tobacco Ordinance, 1916.
He said: This Bill deals, almost entirely, with matters of detail which might be better considered in committee than in the introduction of the Bill on its first reading. I would only like to
say
that clause 7-which deals with penalties proposes to give the magis- trate power to impose a fine of ten times the duty, instead of the ordinary fine authorised by the present Ordinance, in any case where the magistrate is of opinion that there has been an intent to avoid payment of duty. Lately, large quantities of tobacco have been brought in without paying duty and the fine authorised by the present Ordinance- $500 has been quite insufficient in view of the inducement offered to the smuggler to get a large quantity of tobacco through. Clause 4 is an attempt to close up gaps in the net so as to pro- vide that any tobacco imported by railway shall be brought into Kowloon Station. At present it may be taken off at an intermediate station and in that way escape duty. Clause 2 deals with the powers of the Governor-in-Council to alter the tobacco duties. Of course, the Legislative Council has full control in this matter as it is a matter of taxation, but it is obviously necessary to have the power to amend the tobacco taxes at short notice, to prevent dealers getting the tobacco out of bond and 90 escaping
new
duties. The present section
is not quite full enough to deal with all cases. For example, the Governor-in. Council cannot reduce duties. It might be found that some were too high and it might we desirable to reduce them. under this clause it will be possible. At present that cannot be done, but
The COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was a read a first time.
The
Objects and Reasons "
state:-
1. The object of this bill is to amend
under the Deportation Ordinances, 1917, the Tobacco Ordinance in certain res- and 1921, shall be deemed for the pur-pects where experience has shown it to poses of the deportation order to retain be defective.
hia nationality as at the date of the
order, unless the Governor otherwise 2. Clause 2 gives the Governor-in- directs.
Council a wider power of dealing with
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
re- tobacco duties in anticipation of a solution
The of Legislative Council. powers now conferred correspond with those entrusted to the Legislative Coun- cil by section 7 of the Ordinance.
3.-Clause provides that duty shall be paid on tobacco manufactured in the Colony which is removed into a bonded or licensed warehouse, before removal from such bonded or licensed warehouse.
the
4.-The object of clause 4 is to prevent the smuggling of tobacco into Colony by rail. As the law stands at present, it is possible for persons to bring tobacco into the Colony by rail from Chinese territory, and to evade detection by alighting with the tobacco at any of the stations before the Kow- loon terminus. As long as they remain on the train and do not remove the tobacco frim the train, they are within the law and cannot be arrested, and de- tection at intermediate stations is dif ficult. Clause 4 requires all tobacco im- ported by the railway to be consigned through to Kowloon by railway invoice, and any persons found on the train in possession of tobacco not so consigned will be liable to arrest and prosecution.
5.-Clause 5 gives certain Railway officials the same powers under the Ordi- as are given to revenue officers, the object being to enable arrests and seizures to be made on the train by Rail- way officials.
nance
6. Clause 6 effects two formal amend- ments in section 41 of the Ordinance, both of which tend towards a clearer interpretation of the section.
an
7. Clause 7 amends section 59 of the Ordinance, which is the general penalty section, by empowering a magistrate to impose a fine of ten times the duty on the tobacco in question, instead of the fine authorised by section 59, whenever he is of the opinion that there has been intent to avoid payment of duty. There have recently been cases of smug- gling tobacco which have obviously re- quired a pecuniary penalty greater than that authorised by the principal Ordin- ance, and it has been thought advisable to give the magistrate the option of im- posing a fine of ten times the duty, where such will be greater than the present maximum fine. The power of the magis |
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trate to inflict imprisonment in lieu of or in addition to any fine remains un- altered.
Stamp Amendment Ordinance
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill intituled, An Ordinance to amend the Stamp Ordinance. 1921.
He said: Much of this Bill is purely formal; for example, clause 2, which supplies a drafting omission and corrects a drafting mistake in the principal Ordinance. Another part of the Ordin- ance consists of the clauses which pro- pose to collect together and place in the new Ordinance certain regulations which have been made under the principal Ordinance. It seems more convenient to have them embodied in the Ordinance and the schedule than to have them scattered about in regulations. Clause 3 deals with what is called " splitting." A section of the principal Ordinance which prohibits splitting the execution of more instruments than would be ordinarily required for the transaction in order to evade duty thereby that is to say, if I receive payment of $18 and make out two receipts for $$ each to avoid the stamp duty: that is not allowed The prohibition is clear: the difficulty is to enforce it. It is very difficult for the Collector to prove, affirmatively, that there has been splitting to evade duty, and the effect of this clause is to throw the onus of proof on the person who asserts that there has been no splitting. He is the person who knows all the facts, and it is only fair that he should be required to show that the splitting up into two documents or more was done bona fide and not to evade duty. Clause 4 deals with exchange contracts. It makes three main changes in the col- lection of that duty. In the first place, it imposes on the banker, if either party to the contract is a banker, the duty of seeing that the stamp duty is paid. If both parties are bankers, the seller is to put the stamps. If neither party is a banker, the seller again has to put the stamp. The reason for the first of these requirements, is that bank- ers are used to collecting these duties. they have the necessary stamps and they are less likely to find difficulty and less likely to overlook the necessary stamping. Another change is to give the Collector
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