634870-1898-Bills-read-a-first-time--Waterworks-Amendment- — Page 2

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24TH DECEMBER, 1898.

Construction and short title.

Amendment

of sec. 17 of Ordinance 16 of 1890.

Amendment of sce. 2 of

A BILL

ENTITLED

An Ordinance to amend the Waterworks

Ordinances, 1890 to 1897.

Be it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-

1. This Ordinance shall be read and construed as one with Ordinance No. 16 of 1890 (as amended by Ordinance No. 5 of 1892, No. 6 of 1895, and No. 19 of 1897), which is hereinafter called the principal Ordinance.

This Ordinance may be cited as "The Waterworks Ordi- nance, 1898," and this and the four above-mentioned Ordi- uances may be cited together as "The Waterworks Ordi- nances, 1890 to 1898."

2. Section 17 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting after the words "Water taken or used" and "before the word "Provided " the following clause :-

(4.) To disconnect the service of water to any tenement or to diminish, withhold, or suspend, stop, turn off or divert the supply of water to any tenement through or by means of any service, either wholly or in part. 3. Section 2 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amend- ed, so far as the interpretation of non-domestic supply Ordinance 16 which is contained in that section is concerned, by inserting

after the words "Any water from the waterworks used for the words " any other purpose than that of a domestic supply and shall include any water from the waterworks used for," and by striking out the words "cultivated or occupied as a means of pecuniary profit."

of 1890.

Amendment of sec. 5 of Ordinance 16 of 1890.

Amendment of sec. 3 of

多多

4. Section 5 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amend- ed by adding after the words "it shall be connected by the Water Authority to the water-works" the words "at the cost of the owner of the tenement," and by striking out of the said section the words "in the manner hereafter directed."

5. Section 3 of Ordinance 6 of 1895 is hereby amended by inserting after the words "in his discretion to fix meters Ordinance 6 the words "at the cost of the respective owners of the tenements for measuring the supply to which such meters are fixed."

of 1895.

6. Any sum of money paid by any person before the passing of this Ordinance for connecting to the water- works a service for the supply of water, or for fixing meters in the case of, or for the consumption of water supplied to, fields or gardens which were not cultivated or occupied as a means of pecuniary profit, shall be deemed to have been legally and properly paid by such person, and no action, suit, or other proceeding whatever shall lie for the recovery of any such sum.

Objects and Reasons.

The reason for section 2 of this Bill arises under the following circumstances. It sometimes happens that there is good cause for stopping the supply to one or two houses in a terrace comprising, say, ten houses in all, all of which are supplied through one connection with the main, a branch being led into each house from what may be termed a subsidiary main laid along the terrace. The only means of stopping the supply without entering on pri- vate property would be by shutting the valve or stop-cock which controls the supply to the whole terrace of houses. Hence arises the necessity for empowering the Water Au- thority to enter upon private property for the purpose of disconnecting or otherwise dealing with the service of water to the particular house or houses in question.

Section 3 of this Bill is intended to remove a doubt which had been suggested as to whether a water service to a garden not used for purposes of pecuniary profit would come strictly under the heading of nou-domestic supply.

Sections 4 and 5 of the Bill are intended to remove doubts as to the power to charge for connecting a water-service supply with the water-works, or for fixing meters.

Section 6 is intended to legalize, if and so far as they require legalizing, any payments made under the various sections of the Waterworks Ordinances which are amended by sections 3 to 5, inclusive, of this Ordinance.

HENRY E. POLLOCK,

Acting Attorney General,