CO129-519-2 Estimates for 1930 19-9-1929 - 19-9-1929 — Page 199

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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

their case section 17A of the principal Ordinance expressly provides that they shall come under the general Pension Minutes. There is no such provision with regard to the superior officers of the force and there is no regulation on the subject of their pensions. It seems desirable to deal with their case in the same way as that of the civilian staff. Accordingly section 7 of this Ordinance includes in section 17A of the principal Ordinance reference to the superior officers of the force.

5. Section 8 of this Ordinance repeals the three sections of the principal Ordinance which deal with the making of regulations and departmental orders, and substitutes one simplified section. The existing sections distinguish, though not very clearly, between two kinds of rules, i.e., regulations and departmental orders. Regulations are made by the Captain Superintendent of Police with the approval of the Governor in Council. Departmental orders are made by the Captain Superintendent of Police without reference to the Governor but subject to the Governor's subsequent disapproval. Regulations must be published in the Gazette in order to be valid. Departmental orders need not be published in the Gazette. The line of demarcation between regulations and departmental orders is not clear. Questions may therefore arise at any time as to the strict legal validity of such regulations and departmental orders. The proposed new section will give the entire power of making regula- tions to the Inspector General of Police, and all regulations will be of the one class. These regulations will not require to be published in the Gazette, but will appear in Police General Orders. As required by the new section, these regulations will be circulated to the members of the Executive Council, and the Governor in Council will have power to rescind such regulations or to amend them in any manner. It seems unnecessary to publish such regulations in the Gazette as very few of them affect the public. None of them will impose any obligation on the public. If any member of the public ever has occasion to inquire into the existence of any particular regulation he will always be able to make inquiry from the superior officers of the police force.

6.

Section 10 of this Ordinance substitutes a new sub-section for sub-section (2) of section 26 of the principal Ordinance. That sub-section is open to certain minor objections. It deals with the question of taking bail by officers in charge of police stations. In the first place, on a strict reading, it enables the police officer to take bail only "if no magistrate is in attendance at his office." In the second place, it provides that the recognizance must require the attendance of the accused at "the earliest time then next after when a magistrate will be in attendance at his office." In the third place, the sub-section contains no provision to the effect that a prisoner who is not bailed out must be brought before a magistrate as soon as practicable. This last provision does occur in section 27 of the Magistrates Ordinance, 1890, Ordinance No. 3 of 1890, but it is convenient to have it in the Police Force Ordinance, in the section dealing with bail. The new sub-section

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