88 HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
11TH MAY, 1911.
PRESENT:―
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR, SIR FREDERICK J. DEALTRY LUGARD, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O.
HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR-GENERAL C. A. ANDERSON, C.B. (THE GENERAL OFFICER COMMANDING THE TROOPS).
HON. MR. C. CLEMENTI (Colonial Secretary).
HON. MR. C. G. ALABASTER (Attorney General).
HON. MR. A. M. THOMSON (Colonial Treasurer).
HON. MR. W. CHATHAM, C.M.G. (Director of Public Works).
HON. MR. A. W. BREWIN (Registrar General).
HON. CAPTAIN F. W. LYONS (Captain Superintendent of Police).
HON. DR. HO KAI, M.B., C.M.G.
HON. MR. WEI YUK, C.M.G.
HON. MR. H. E. POLLOCK, K.C.
HON. MR. E. A. HEWETT.
HON. MR. C. MONTAGUE EDE
HON. MR. C. H. ROSS.
MR. R. H. CROFTON (Clerk of Councils). Minutes
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
New Member
Mr. C. H. Ross took the oath and assumed his seat as a member of Council in the absence of Hon. Mr. H. Keswick.
Papers
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by command of His Excellency the Governor, laid on the table the following papers:― Report on the New Territories; Report of the Superintendent of the Prison; and Report of the Botanical and Forestry Department.
Financial Minutes
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by command of His Excellency the Governor, laid on the table Financial Minutes (Nos. 27 and 28), and moved that they be referred to the Finance Committee.
THE COLONIAL TREASURER seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
Financial
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by command of His Excellency the Governor, laid on the table the report of the Finance Committee (No. 7), and moved its adoption.
THE COLONIAL TREASURER seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
Public Works Committee Report
THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS, by command of His Excellency the Governor, laid on the table the report of the Public Works Committee (No. 1).
Revenue and Expenditure
HON. DR. HO KAI, pursuant to notice, asked the following questions:―
Will the Government lay on the table at the next meeting of this Council a return showing (1) The total amount of revenue
(2) The total amount of expenditure (3) The amount of margin (if any)
(4) The amount of military contribution (5) Total amount spent on Public Works extraordinary
for the years 1896 to 1910 inclusive?
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY replied― On the assumption that the word "Margin" is used as defined by His Excellency the Governor in his speech on September 24th, 1908 (Hansard, page 128), to which presumably the honourable member's question refers, I have the honour to lay upon the table a Statement containing the figures asked for:
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 89 before last regarding the Railway. I said that
Total Expenditure
on Public Works
Extraordinary.
1,157,104
1,673,440
2,343,340
1,229,452
1,204,823
300,129
449421
370226
252,900
473205
388473
649831
1382814
1503789
728650
$
Refuge.
of
Harbour
Works.
and
Defence
Railway
new
include
of
cost
not
total
does
and
"Extraordinary"
Works
Barrack
new
Expenditure
of
• cost
*
"Extraordinary."
"Extraordinary,"
of
of
exclusive
exclusive
revenue,
revenue,
gross
gross
of
of
20%
17%
at
at
fixed
fixed
Contribution
Contribution
Military
1. Military
2.
Contribution.
Amount of
Military
1,214,340
1,372,486
509,679
460378
503305
620,744
616589
846275
914,038
961408
1270741
1362650
1305185
1250168
1226441
$
Military Contribution
over Ordinary Expe nditure exclusive of
of Ordinary Revenue
Margin, i.e., Excess
and Volunteers.
2,673,570
2,333,125
367,907
315542
583957
484,015
735773
1101429
532,450
981228
2644301
2669271
2645787
1744435
2238782
$
Expenditure.
Contribution and
Exclusive of
Volunteers
Ordinary.
Military
──
1,882,272
2,381,744
3,797,262
3,768,959
4,295,058
2036824
2088150
2499556
2872149
3747464
3678648
3856874
3976284
4290414
4048050
$
Expenditure from
Extraordinary.
Exclusive of
Loans and
Reserves
──
69,510
127716
234381
131,660
473205
388473
1,157,104
649831
1382814
1673440
1503789
728,650
*792,242
*1,159,923
*1,176,437
$
Contribution and
"Exclusive of
Volunteers
Military
Gross.
──
2,182,401
2486245
2458376
2,634,644
2972761
3260622
4,954,366
4397295
5061462
5530314
5480073
4,497,609
6633754
5277502
5,499,882
$
Revenue.
Ordinary.
2352366
2672107
3235329
3973578
4728692
6322949
6526144
6622070
6034849
6286832
2,250,179
2,865,759
4,329,712
6,442,529
6,628,183
$
viz., not assessed
Extraordinary,
Contribution.
for Military
359,699
334548
246052
744,384
967258
240315
571,361
510165
486098
392259
412941
159,750
69358
536134
332,686
$
Gross.
2686914
2918159
4202587
4213893
5238857
6809047
6918403
6104207
6822966
2,609,878
3,610,143
4,901,073
7035011
6,602,280
6,960,869
$
Year.
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
$
1
2
Kowloon-Canton Railway
HIS EXCELLENCY ― Gentlemen, ― With your permission I rise to make a personal correction of an error in the speech which I delivered at the Council meeting
no provision had been made for a sinking fund in the estimates for the current year, and I intended to correct that statement at the last meeting, but it slipped my memory. You will find that on page 100 of the estimates a sum of $65,371, being 1% on the Wuchang Loan of (E02)1,144,000 for half a year, is provided to meet the sinking fund.
Military Contribution
HON. MR. EDE―Your Excellency, I rise to give notice of the following question: "With reference to the remarks of the honourable Mr. Slade in the debate of the 8th October, 1908, will the Gevernment lay upon the table some papers embodying the views and calculations of His Excellency the Governor upon the subject of the Military Contribution?
The Statute Laws (New Revised Edition) Ordinance
THE ATTORNEY - GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill entitled, "An Ordinance to authorise the publication of a Newly Revised Edition of the Revised Edition of the Statute Laws of the Colony prepared in virtue of Ordinance No. 12 of 1900."
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a first time.
The Money-Lenders' Ordinance
THE ATTORNEY - GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill entitled, "An Ordinance to amend the Law with respect to Persons carrying on business as Moneylenders."
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded. and the Bill was read a first time.
The objects and reasons state that this Bill introduces in the Colony the principal provisions of the Imperial Moneylenders' Act, 1900.
90 HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Census Amendment Ordinance
THE ATTORNEY - GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill entitled, "An Ordinance to amend the Census Ordinance, 1881."
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a first time.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL―Sir, I beg to move that the Standing Orders be suspended in order that this Bill may pass through all its stages at this meeting of the Council. Standing Order 31 provides that after the first reading of a Bill it shall be published in the Gazette for general information. Standing Order 13D provides that any motion for the suspension of the Standing Orders can be made without notice. This Ordinance was suggested by the editor who is revising the new edition of the Ordinances. It is considered that these amendments to the Census Ordinance are very necessary, and it is also necessary that the Bill should be put through speedily, as I believe the Census is to be taken on the 20th of this month.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
THE ATTORNEY - GENERAL then moved the second reading of the Bill. In doing so he said ― The Bill is, I think, sufficiently explained in the objects and reasons attached to it by its draftsman, Sir Francis Piggott, who suggested these amendments while going through the old Ordinances in course of revision. They read as follows; This Ordinance is introduced in order to supplement some omissions in the Census Ordinance, discovered during the progress of the revision, and which are sufficiently serious to require legislation in view of the coming Census. The amendments concern chiefly the status of the enumerators, and their powers in connection with collecting information, neither of which points is at all clear in the existing Ordinance. In ordinary circumstances, the amendments being numerous, the Ordinance should have been recast, but this would have disarranged the work of the reviser. It is intended, however, to publish the Ordinance as amended in the Gazette for general information.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
Council then resolved itself into a committee of the whole Council to consider the Bill clause by clause.
On resuming,
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL reported that the Bill had passed through its committee stages without amendment, and moved that it be read a third time.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a third time and passed.
University Amendment Ordinance
THE ATTORNEY - GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill entitled, "An Ordinance to amend the University Ordinance, 1911."
The objects and reasons attached to the Bill are as follows:―
Section 2.―It is proposed to abolish the words limiting the choice of these two members to representatives of Asiatic races other than Chinese.
Section 3. ― The Senate cannot be constituted until the academic staff of the University has been selected; but in the meantime it is desirable that a member of the Senate of the Hongkong College of Medicine should have a seat in the Council of the University.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a first time.
Sale of Food and Drugs Amendment Ordinance
THE ATTORNEY - GENERAL moved the first reading of a Bill entitled, "An Ordinance to amend the Sale of Food and Drugs Ordinance, 1896."
This Bill introduces two important provisions of the Imperial Sale of Foods and Drugs Act, 1899, the introduction of which has been strongly urged by the Government medical advisers.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a first time.
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 91
The Electricity Bill
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL ― I beg to move that the Council go into Committee to consider the report of the Public Works Committee on the Bill entitled, "An Ordinance for regulating the supply of Electricity for Lighting and other purposes within the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies."
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
Council then resolved itself into a Committee of the whole Council to consider the Bill clause by clause: and upon the motion of the Attorney-General, seconded by the Colonial Secretary, the Standing Orders were suspended in order that although one member of the Standing Public Works Committee had been absent during the consideration of the Bill by that Committee the Bill might, notwithstanding the provisions of rule No. 40 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Council, be dealt with by the Council in the same manner as a Bill reported on by a Committee of the whole Council. No member objected, and the several amendments suggested by the Public Works Committee were approved.
Council then resumed.
HIS EXCELLENCY―Council will adjourn until next Thursday.
FINANCE COMMITTEE.
A meeting of the Finance Committee was held afterwards, the Colonial Secretary in the chair. The following votes were passed.―
Public Works Extraordinary
The Governor recommended the Council to vote a sum of two thousand nine hundred dollars ($2,900) in aid of the vote Public Works. Extraordinary, Buildings, additions to No. 2 Police Station.
Judicial and Legal
The Governor recommended the Council to vote a sum of Ninety-five Dollars and eighty one Cents ($95.81) in aid of the vote Judicial and Legal Departments, E.―Land Registry Office. Other Charges. Official Receiver and Registrar of Trade Marks, Incidental Expenses.
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