TNAG-1730-FCO40-2443-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 79

SPEECH BY THE HÔN G T BARNES JP,

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY

IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON 11 MAY 1988

He said:

SOCIETIES (AMENDMENT) BILL 1988

sir,

I move that the Societies (Amendment) Bill 1988 be

read the Second time.

The aim of the Bill is to enable an unnecessary

At present section 9(2) of the

charge to be removed.

Ordinance requires a fee to be charged for inspection of the

registers of societies maintained by the Commissioner of

Police as Registrar of Societies. This charge was intended to

deter casual browsing and was set at a nominal $1. The

le commissioner has pointed out that many requests to consult the

registers come by telephone, making a charge impractical and

that, in any case, administrative measures can be taken to

deter frivolous access to the registers.

Consequently it is

proposed to amend section 9(2) to remove the obligation to

charge a fee.

A

It is intended that if this Bill is enacted, the

rules made under the Societies Ordinance will be amended to

delete the $1 charge and substitute administrative procedures,

which will enable the Registrar of Societies to prevent casual

reference to the registers, should such measures

efer

be

necessary.

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