XN000022-1984-10-15 — Page 28

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1984

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KWUN "ONG LAW COURTS OPENED

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THE JUDICIARY WAS IMPLEMENTING AN EXTENSIVE PROGRAMME OF CONSTRUCTION OF NEW MAGISTRACIES THROUGHOUT HONG KONG TO MEET CURRENT AND FUTURE NEEDS, THE CHIEF JUSTICE, SIR DENYS ROBERTS, SAID TODAY (MONDAY).

SPEAKING AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE KWUN TONG LAW COURTS AT LEI YUE MUN ROAD, SIR DENYS SAID THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW COURT HOUSE MARKED THE FIRST STEP IN THE PROGRAMME.

HE SAID, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SUMMARY MATTERS DEALT WITH BY MAGISTRATES IN 1961 WAS 124 920 AND 40 994 CHARGE SHEETS WERE ISSUED. BY 1983, THE EQUIVALENT FIGURES WERE 986 839 AND 163 436. THUS SUMMARY MATTERS HAVE INCREASED ALMOST EIGHT TIMES AND CHARGE SHEETS BY FOUR TIMES.+

MAGISTRACIES SUCH AS SAN PO KONG, FANLING, TSUEN WAN AND NORTH KOWLOON, HAD BEEN PATCHED, SUB-DIVIDED AND ALTERED TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT COURTS TO DEAL WITH THE HEAVY INCREASES IN POPULATION AND CASELOAD.

+ HOWEVER, HE SAID, IT HAS BEEN APPARENT FOR SOME YEARS THAT WE WERE CLOSE TO THE LIMITS WHICH COULD BE ACHIEVED IN THIS MANNER AND THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO BUILD NEW MAGISTRACIES TO MEET CURRENT AND FUTURE NEEDS, SINCE WE MUST EXPECT THAT BOTH THE WORK OF MAGISTRATES WILL CONTINUE TO GROW.

+THE NEW KWUN TONG LAW COURTS WILL CONTAIN EIGHT COURTS, ONE OF WHICH WILL BE USED AS A JUVENILE COURT, ONE AS A SMALL CLAIMS TRIBUNAL AND FOUR AS MAGISTRATES COURTS. TWO WILL BE AVAILABLE AS DISTRICT COURTS, IF IT IS DECIDED TO STATION DISTRICT JUDGES IN KWUN TONG.+

ON OTHER NEW COURT-HOUSES, HE SAID THE ONE IN WAN CHAI WAS EXPECTED TO BE READY IN JUNE 1986, ACCOMMODATING 20 DISTRICT COURTS, 11 MAGISTRATES COURTS, FOUR LABOUR TRIBUNALS AND FOUR SMALL CLAIMS TRIBUNALS.

IN THE NEW TERRITORIES, NEW MAGISTRACIES CONTAINING EIGHT COURTS EACH WOULD BE BUILT IN SHA TIN AND TUEN MUN, TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THESE AREAS WITH THEIR FAST-GROWING POPULATION. THEY WOULD BE READY BY THE END OF 1986.

ON HONG KONG ISLAND, THE PRESENT CAUSEWAY BAY MAGISTRACY IS TO BE PULLED DOWN WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS, AS PART OF THE REDEVELOPMENT OF THAT AREA.

+

SIR DENYS SAID, WHEN THIS OCCURS, WE HOPE THAT RATHER THAN REOCCUPY A COURT-HOUSE ON THE SAME SITE, WE WILL MOVE TO A VE# BUILDING IN THE SHAU KEI WAN AREA, DESIGNED TO SERVE THE NORTH EASTERN AREA OF HONG KONG ISLAND.

/+WE BELIEVE