CO129-540-1 Enrolment of foreign nationals to Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps 31-3-1932 - 19-1-1933 — Page 19

Ansi

Curie

Dup. w...@.

No.165.

Sir,

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONG KONG. 31st March, 1932.

I have the honour to address you on the subject

of the enrolment of, and the grant of commissions to,

foreign subjects in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps.

2. In 1927 the then Attorney General gave it as his

opinion that as section 3 of the Volunteer Ordinance,

Ordinance No. 2 of 1920 made it lawful for the Governor to

accept the services of "any persons" in the Corps, there

was no legal obstacle to the enlistment of aliens. It

may however be argued that this interpretation of the law

is incorrect, and that section 3 of Ordinance No. 2 of 1920

is void and inoperative under section 2 of the Colonial

Laws Validity Act, 1865, on the ground of its repugnancy

to the Act of Settlement, 1700, which prohibits aliens

from holding any office civil or military; and that consequently the words "any persons" in section 3 should

be construed as "any British persons".

3. As a result of the opinion of the Attorney

General in 1927 referred to above, two Portuguese Companies

were formed, and there are in the Corps today four

commissioned officers and one hundred and seventeen other

ranks who are "local" Portuguese, i.e., persons born or

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

SIR P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER, G.B.E., M.C., M.F.,

&c.,

&C.,

&c.

domiciled

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