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from was abolished by the Societies Ordinance, 1920, many guilds and unions, evidently under the impression that the requirements of the Societies Ordinance, 1911, still persist, voluntarily supply the Secretary for Chinese Affairs with a certain amount of information regarding their activities. This is frequently of little value and occasionally consists of applications for permission to hold "sing songs" which is granted conditionally on a district watchman (a member of a subsidiary police force supported by voluntary contributions from the Chinese community) attending the meeting to see that nothing unlawful transpires. This attitude on the part of the public is not surprising in view of the powers of censorship* possessed by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and his powers under the Emergency Regulations. These will be discussed later.
Legislative Interference with Freedom of Contract, and Emergency
Legislation.
94. The conditions of this Colony with an unlimited supply of free labour and no immigration restrictions, and with workers employed and residing in urban areas as private citizens, have not necessitated any statutory enactment, such as a Labour Code, which would be appropriate rather to imported labour employed on estates and housed in compounds.
95. The recent development of mining in the New Territories, however, has occasioned the passing of certain regulations under the New Territories Regulation Ordinance No. 34 of 1910 which provide for the erection and maintenance to the satisfaction of the Director of Medical Services of lines for labourers, which term is defined as including every person employed for the purpose of personally performing any manual labour, except a domestic servant, gardener, or agricultural labourer. The scope of this regulation, which is confined to the New Territories, includes the housing of coolies employed on public works, such as roads and water catchments, who have in the past been housed in matsheds with little regard for sanitation or anti-malaria precautions.
96. Although there is no labour code, there is a considerable body of law qualifying in various ways the principle of freedom of contract. The prohibitions and restrictions enforced are largely in the interest of the employee, and many have already been referred to in connexion with the Factories and Workshops Ordinance, 1937; the Employment of Young Persons and Children at Sea Ordinance, 1932, which, together with the Merchant Shipping Ordinance, 1899, the Merchant Ship- ping Act, 1894, and the Orders in Council already mentioned, regulates the conditions of the employment of seamen; Regulation 22 (a) of Part VII of the regulations made under the Miscellaneous Licences Ordinance, 1933, providing that the licensee of a dance hall shall in the case of employees induced by him to enter the Colony defray the cost of the employee's repatriation on the termination of his services; and the Female Domestic Service Ordinance, 1923, regulating the employ- ment of mui-tsai.'
97. Contracts of service are dealt with by the Employers and Servants Ordin- ance No. 45 of 1902, as amended by the Employers and Servants Amendment Ordinance, No. 10 of 1932, which abolished penal sanctions. The definition of servant though wide is not exhaustive and only persons over the age of sixteen years may enter into a contract of service under the Ordinance. In the absence of any agreement in writing to the contrary, every contract of service (except in the case of hire by the day, job, or journey) shall be deemed to be a contract for one month renewable from month to month, and may be determined by one month's notice, or the payment of one month's wages in lieu thereof. A contract of ser- vice for more than one month shall be in writing and shall be executed in duplicate in the presence of a magistrate, or in the case of persons engaged for service on any cargo boat or fishing or trading junk before the European police officer in charge of the police station of the district in which such contract is made. The contract must be explained to the servant, indorsed accordingly, and a duplicate delivered to him. The duration of such contracts is limited to five years is made beyond the Colony, and three years if made within the Colony. A contract entered into by
*
Summary Offences Ordinance No. 40 of 1932 s. 3 (17) notices and proclamations.
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