ENG-1954 — Page 340

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1954

The English Common Law, together with such United Kingdom statutes as were in force on 5th April, 1843, or have since that date been expressly made applicable to Hong Kong, forms the basis of the legal system, modified by Hong Kong Ordinances of which a new edition, revised to 1950, was published in 1951. The constitution of the Supreme Court of the Colony is set out in the Supreme Court Ordinance No. 3 of 1873. The law as to civil procedure was codified by Ordinance No. 3 of 1901. The Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, regulates the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in Admiralty cases.

The system of administration is briefly as follows:

Under the general direction of the Colonial Secretary the administrative functions of Government are discharged by some thirty departments, all the officers of which are members of the Civil Service. The Colonial Secretariat, under the control of the Deputy Colonial Secretary, co-ordinates the work of all the departments and takes, or transmits from the Governor or Colonial Secretary, all general policy decisions.

The Government has a Public Relations Officer whose duties are to transmit news and explain govern- ment policy to the public and to keep Government informed of public opinion. A broadcasting station, Radio Hong Kong, is maintained under the control of the Controller of Broadcasting which broadcasts pro- grammes in English and Chinese.

The Public Services Commission, which was appointed under the authority of the Public Services Commission Ordinance, 1950, with a view to improving the standard of efficiency of officers in the public service

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