CO129-519-11 Protection of Women and Girls Amendment Ordinance- 1929 1-11-1929 - 1-11-1929 — Page 17

by means of a new section 23 which the above Ordinance

inserts in Ordinance No. 1 of 1923. That new section

provides that nothing in Ordinance No. 1 of 1923 is to

affect any right of guardianship vested in the Secretary

for Chinese Affairs under Ordinance No. 4 of 1897, or to

be vested in him under Ordinance No. 4 of 1897 as amended

by this Ordinance.

10.

Section 39 of the principal Ordinance gave to the

Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and any officer authorised

for that purpose by him in writing, power to search any

vessel or place where he had reasonable cause to suspect

that there was any woman or girl who might be liable

to be dealt with under the Ordinance, or in which he had

reasonable cause to suspect than an offence against the

Ordinance was being committed. It also gave power to

search for the purpose of ascertaining whether

there was

in any vessel or place any woman or girl who might be

liable to be dealt with under the Ordinance, or for the

purposes of ascertaining whether any offence against the

Ordinance was being committed there. The section gave

power to remove and detain the woman or girl, but it gave

no power to arrest, and it gave no power to seize

documents or other articles which might be evidence of an

offence. It also failed to make it an offence to obstruct

any such search. Section 6 of this Ordinance substitutes

a new section 39 which remedies the above defects.

new section also gives to the Secretary for Chinese

The

Affairs, and to the authorised officer, the right to put

questions to persons found in any vessel or place searched

under the section, and it requires such persons to answer

such questions, truthfully, and to obey any order given

connected with the search. It also makes it an offence

to force or induce a woman or girl who is liable to be

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