CO129-508-11 Copies of Ordinances and amendments with relating correspondence 17-12-1927 - 17-7-1928 — Page 32

Chinese temple, and what amount may be spent on any

particular authorized object, and what surplus may be transferred to the General Chinese Charities Fund.

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It is

not intended to make use of this section in the case of the places referred to in paragraph 8 above.

19.

Section 9 provides that the General Chinese Charities Fund may be applied (a) to the expenses incurred by the Chinese Temples Committee in carrying out the powers conferred on the Committee by this Ordinance, and (b) for the purpose of any Chinese charity in the Colony. It also

provides that the accounts of the fund shall be audited at such times and in such manner as the Governor may direct. 20.

Section 10 provides that the office sz chuk, or temple keeper, may be let by tender, and that the Chinese Temples Committee shall have power to determine the

conditions of tender.

The principal if not the only

source of revenue in the case of most Chinese temples is the periodical amount paid by the temple keeper for the privilege of his office. Any tendency on the part of temple keepers to make excessive charges to the public is probably sufficiently checked by the existence of other temples, but it will also in future be subject to control by the Chinese Temples Committee. The section also gives the Chinese Temples Committee power to appoint a sz chuk without tender, and power to remove any sz chuk, whether

appointed by them or not.

21.

Section 11 gives the Chinese Temples Committee power to delegate to any person the administration of any particular temple or its revenues. Certain temples are

now controlled by the Tung Wa and Kwong Wa Committees. It is not proposed to interfere with this arrangement.

Temples may lose their popularity or otherwise fall

22.