TNAG-1733-FCO40-2446-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 119

Many of the bar's suggestins have been adopted by

the ad hoc group and also the Administration. My hon.

Colleague Mrs. Rosanna TAM has already mentioned them in

her very lucid speech and they relate to the following :

ec.

(a) First, the new section 71B now and will impose an

objective test on the police officer in his

decision whether person found in any place is

suffering from mental disorder and to be in

immediate need of care and control by the use of

the words "whom you reasonably believe" and not

the original subjective test

test by the use of the

words "who appears to him";

(b) Secondly, section 71B(5) now makes it plain that

subsection (1) does not confer any additional

power on the police officer to enter private

premises so as to remove a person suffering from

mental disorder

to a place of safety, and

therefore he can only enter private premises when

he is invited to do so; and

le

an

(c) thirdly, application for a mental patient's

detention under the amended section 31 can only

be made to a district judge or magistrate but not

to a Justice of the Peace. These are clearly

good improvements to the Bill.