604350-1940-Supplementary-Draft-Bills---Immigration-and-Passport-Amendment--War-Revenue-Amendment--Compulsory-Service-Amendment — Page 3

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A BILL

[No. 1910.6.40.--1.]

Short title.

Substitution for Ordin- ance No. 32 of 1939, s. 11 (2).

INTITULED

An Ordinance to amend the Compulsory Service Ordinance,

1939.

BE it enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Compulsory Service Amendment Ordinance, 1940.

2. Sub-section (2) of Section 11 of the Compulsory Service Ordinance, 1939, as amended by Government Noti- fications No. 855 of 1939 and No. 604 of 1940, is repealed and the following sub-section is substituted therefor :-

(2) The said reserve shall be divided into groups, to which the members shall be respectively assigned by the tribunal, namely

(a) a combatant group;

(b) a key-posts group consisting of persons who, in the event of any emergency contemplated by the Compulsory Service Tribunal, will be primarily required, in the opinion of the tribunal, to continue in the work in which they are normally engaged;

(c) a general group for essential services consisting of persons who, in the event of any emergency contemplated by the Compulsory Service tribunal will be primarily required, in the opinion of the tribunal, to perform essential services which are not those in which they are normally engaged :

Provided that, subject to the provisions of section 8 as to appeals, the Compulsory Service tribunal may at any time revoke or vary an assignment of a person to a particular group and may assign him to another group :

Provided also that no person who has attained the age of forty six years, or who expresses a conscientious objection to the undertaking of combatant service, shall without his consent be assigned to the combatant group:

Provided further that any male British subject of whatever age may at any time, with the consent of the proper military authority, voluntarily enrol himself in the key-posts group or the essential services group of the reserve.

Objects and Reasons.

1. This Bill repeals section 11 (2) of the principal Ordin- ance and substitutes a revised sub-section in order to assist the Compulsory Service tribunal in making their assignments and re-assignments to the three groups into which the Hong Kong Defence Reserve is divided.