ENG-1946 — Page 106

Chapter 8.

LEGISLATION.

The Military Administration.

At the end of August, 1945, when Hong Kong was liberated, the laws of the Colony as they had stood at the end of 1941 were still in being, although they had remained inoperative during the Japanese regime and the occupying power had superimposed Japanese "legislation".

An interim administration was set up on 1st September, 1945, by means of a proclamation issued from H.M.S. 'Indomitable' by the Rear-Admiral in command of the Eleventh Carrier Squadron of the British Pacific Fleet. This proclamation established the Military Administration and assumed for the Commander-in-Chief of the liberating forces full judicial, legislative and executive powers; it enjoined. respect for existing law-i.e. the law as it had subsisted on 25th December, 1941- and revoked all legislation which purported to have been made by the occupying power. The Military Administration so established lasted until 1st May, 1946, and during this period legislation was by proclamation and by orders or regulations made under powers given by proclamation.

The proclamations so made covered a wide range of subjects. Proclamation No. 5 related to Currency, Proclama- tion No. 6, the Moratorium Proclamation, imposed a mora- torium whereby "no rights, remedies or powers in respect of any debt...

.. incurred before the date of the Proclamation shall be exercised or enforced by process of law..

while the moratorium continues in force". Proclamation No. 8 established Military Courts in substitution for the Courts subsisting in 1941 until such time as Civil Government should be resumed. Proclamations Nos. 10 and 11 dealt with Custody of Property and of Enemy Property. Proclamation No. 14 provided for the demobilisation of the Hong Kong Volunteer Forces. Proclamation No. 15 governed the relationship between landlords and tenants in the light of the acute shortage of residential accommodation. The need for this measure remained throughout the period under review and it was still in being at the end of 1946.

The Resumption of Civil Government.

Civil Government was restored on the 1st of May, 1946. The termination of the British Military Administration was effected by its last proclamation, No. 35, which announced that the governor of the Colony had returned and provided for the formal cessation of the British Military Administration and of all powers assumed by Proclamation unless continued by the lawfully constituted authority. From that date legislative power reverted to the Governor and the Legislative Council on the basis of the constitution of the Colony.