Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 216

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Unofficial Members.

Provisional

appointments in place of Mem-

ROYAL INSTRUCTIONS-HONGKONG

one of Our Principal Secretaries of State, may from time to time appoint by an Instrument under the Public Seal of the Colony, and all such persons shall be styled Official Members of the Legislative Council; and further of such persons, not exceeding eight in number at any one time, as at the date of the coming into operation of Our said recited Letters, Patent are Unofficial Members of the said Council, or as the Governor, in pursuance of Instructions from Us through one of Our Principal Secretaries of State, may from time to time appoint by an Instrument under the Public Seal of the Colony, and all such persons shall be styled Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council.

If any Official Member of the Legislative Council cease to hold office in the Colony his seat in the Council shall thereupon become

t: [As ainended by Additional Instructions dated 15-11-28.

vacant.:

XIV.--Whenever any Member other than an ex officio Member of the Legislative Council of the Colony shall, by writing under his hand, bers absent, &c. resign his seat in the Council, or shall die, or be suspended from the exercise of his functions as a Member of the Council, or be declared by the Governor by an Instrument under the Public Seal of the Colony to be incapable of exercising his functions as a Member of the Council, or be absent from the Colony, or shall be acting in an office the holder of which is an ex officio Member of the Council, or if his seat become. vacant, or whenever any person shall be lawfully discharging the func- tions of more than one of the offices the holders of which are ex officio Members of the Council, the Governor may, by an Instrument under the Public Seal of the Colony, provisionally appoint in his place some person to be temporarily an Official or Unofficial Member of the Council, as the case may be..

Provisional

appointments to

!

:

J

Every person so provisionally appointed shall forthwith cease to be a Member of the Council if his appointment is disallowed by Us,. or revoked by the Governor, or superseded by the definitive appointment of an Official or Unofficial Member of the Council, or if the Member in whose place he was appointed shall return to the Colony, or shall be released from suspension, or shall be declared by the Governor by an Instrument under the Public Seal capable of again discharging his functions in the said Council, or shall cease to sit in the Council as an ex officio Member, or shall cease to discharge the functions of more than one of the offices the holders of which are ex officio Members of the Council, as the case may be.

The Governor shall, without delay, report to Us, for Our confirma- be immediately tion or disallowance, through one of Our Principal Secretaries of State, every provisional appointment of any person as an Official or Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council.

reported.

Revocation

of such

Every such person shall hold his place in the Council during Our appointments. pleasure, and the Governor may, by an Instrument under the Public Seal," revoke any such appointment [As amended by Additional Instructions dated 15-11-28.1 XV. [This clause was revoked by Additional Instructions 'dated. November 15th, 1928.]*

Seats declared void in certain cases.

i

XVI. [This clause was revoked by additional Instructions dated

January 10th, 1922.]

.

·.: XVII.—If any Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council shall. become bankrupt or insolvent, or shall be convicted of any criminal offence, or shall absent himself from the Colony for more than three months. without leave from the Governor, the Governor may declare in writing that the seat of such Member at the Council is vacant, and immediately on the publication of such declaration he shall cease to be a Member of the Council..