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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
of the patent" in two places in sub-section (2) of section 8 of Ordinance No. 13 of 1925, as enacted by section 2 of Ordinance No. 18 of 1932.
As the principal Ordinance of 1925 is a short Ordinance which has been amended by Ordinances No. 10 of 1928, No. 38 of 1931, and No. 18 of 1932, and as the Rules made under it in 1926 were amended twice in 1931 it has been considered desirable to repeal them all and to re-enact them, with the alteration directed by the Colonial Office despatch of the 5th September, 1932, in this new Ordinance.
PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS AMENDMENT ORDINANCE, 1932.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill intituled "An Ordinance to amend the Protection of Women and Girls Ordinance, 1897." He said: Sir, I rise to move the first reading of a Bill to amend the Protection of Women and Girls Ordinance, 1897. Its principal object is to strengthen the hands of the police and magistrates in dealing with an unpleasant feature of urban night life.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded and the Bill was read a first time.
Objects and Reasons.
The "Objects and Reasons" for the Bill were stated as follows:-
1. The substituted sub-section (2) of section 13 of the principal Ordinance raises the maximum fines from $100, $200 and $500 to $250, $500 and $1,000 respectively.
2. The effect of the substituted sub-section (1) of section 17 of the principal Ordinance is to substitute the words "solicits for immoral purposes" for the words "in any public place persistently solicits or importunes for immoral purposes" and to raise the penalty from three months to six months. The words "in any public place persistently solicits or importunes" came from section 1 of the Vagrancy Act, 1898, (61 & 62 Vict., c. 39); but they appear to afford an unnecessary degree of protection to a type of pest which has recently increased.
3. The substituted sub-section (3) of section 21 adds the words "or the hearing of any information or charge" after "indictment" in line 1, and the words "information or charge" in lines 6 and 12, of section 21 (3) of the sub-section it replaces. It expressly applies the enactment to the hearing of an information or charge by a magistrate, thus removing any doubt as to the intention of the legislature when this sub-section was added in 1909, (See
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