doubt whether it would always be practicable to
apply for a licence to hold a funeral procession
two days before such procession; and it is con-
sidered that the Commissioner of Police's powers
under Section 7 (4) to refuse such a licence are
too wide and in some cases inappropriate in rela-
►
tion to funeral processions. It is accordingly
proposed to ask the Governor to give further
consideration to these aspects.
(c) Section 11 (2) confers on a Police Officer of or
above the rank of Inspector the power to prevent,
stop or disperse public processions or meetings
if such are "in his opinion likely to cause or
lead to a breach of the peace". Justice objected
to the words underlined on the grounds that they
conferred an absolute discretion on the police
which could not be challenged in the Courts.
Clause 6 of the draft Bill is accordingly designed
to remedy this situation by deleting the words "in
his opinion" and substituting the words "if he
reasonably believes that the same is". However,
the Governor has asked if this amendment may be
dropped because the Commissioner of Police has
argued strongly that the test of reasonable belief
would place a very heavy burden on Police Officers
when deciding whether a particular meeting might
reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of the
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