636841-1897-Bills-read-Supplementary-Appropriation-Infected-Milk-Hongkong-Fire-Brigade-Amendment- — Page 4

750 THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 11TH SEPTEMBER, 1897.

Short title.

Construction,

Repeal.

Section

substituted for section 5 of Ord. 4 of 1868.

Regulations. Penalty. Enforcement by dismissal.

authority. Thereupon, the local authority was to call upon the dairyman to show cause why an order should not be made by such authority requiring him not to supply any milk from such dairy till the order should be withdrawn. These powers were conferred, in England, by section 4 of The Infectious Diseases (Prevention) Act, 1890.

The present Ordinance, suggested by the Medical Officer of Health, proceeds upon similar lines, having regard to local eircumstances.

Section 5, which is based upon the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops Orders of the Privy Council and Local Government Board in England, provides a penalty in the case of a dairyman allowing any infected person to milk the animals, assist in the conduct of the dairy or to reside in such part of the dairy as may be used for the housing of cattle or storage of milk.

It is hoped that the fact of such an Ordinance being brought into force in this Colony will enable the Medical Officer of Health to exercise more effective supervision over the milk supplies of the Colony and cause dairymen to use greater vigilance to prevent the possibility of contamination of the milk sold by them.

W. MEIGH GOODMAN, Attorney General,

A BILL

ENTITLED

An Ordinance to further amend The Hongkong Fire Brigade Ordinance, 1868.

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

1. This Ordinance may be cited as The Hongkong Fire Brigade (Amendment) Ordinance, 1897.

2. This Ordinance shall be read and construed with The Hongkong Fire Brigade Ordinance, 1868, (No. 4 of 1868). 3. Sections 5 and 10 of Ordinance No. 4 of 1868 are, hereby, repealed.

4. In lieu of section 5 the words following shall be substituted :-

(a.) The Superintendent may, from time to time, make regulations for the general management and discipline of the Fire Brigade and may impose penalties not exceeding ten dollars, or punishment by confinement to station for a period not exceeding one week, for any breach of any of such regulations; but such regulations shall have no force or effect until they have been approved by the Governor in Council and published in the Government Gazette.

Any member of the Fire Brigade, who refuses to pay any such penalty or to undergo any such punishment as may be inflicted by the Superintendent for breach of any of such regulations, shall be liable to instant dismissal by the Governor.

Departmental (b.) The Superintendent may, from time to time, without orders. reference to the Governor, but subject always to the dis- allowance or the revision of the Governor, make such Departmental Orders as he may consider necessary for the efficient working of the Fire Brigade, the due regulation of the internal economy thereof, and the carrying out of the daily routine of such Brigade.

Commence- ment of Ordinance.

5. This Ordinance shall come into operation on such day as may be fixed by a notice in that bebalf published in the Government Gazette.

Objects and Reasons,

It has been found by successive Superintendents that, for the maintenance of discipline, the Superintendent should have the power of punishing the men under his command within certain limits. The amending Ordinance confere such power.

It has been found that the vesting of the sole power of making regulations in the Governor in Council, is a cum- bersome system which does not work well in practice.

The framing of regulations and departmental orders by the Superintendent, subject to the approval, revision or disallowance of the Governor, has therefore been provided for. Similar power, as regards the Police Force, was con- ferred upon the Captain Superintendent ten years ago by sections 19 and 20 of Ordinance 14 of 1887.

W. MEIGH GOODMAN, Attorney General.