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LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Draft Bills.
No. S. 1.-The following Bills are published for general infor-
mation:-
[No. 26-18.9.34.-10.]
A BILL
Short title.
Interpreta- tion.
Council,
Chairman.
Secretary.
Health Officer.
Veterinary Officer.
Composition of the Urban
Council,
which is to replace the Sanitary Board.
Ordinance No. 6 of 1887.
Ordinance
No. 8 of 1929.
INTITULED
An Ordinance to make provision for the substitution of an Urban Council for the Sanitary Board, and to repeal the Public Health and Buildings Ordinances.
BE it enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as fol- lows:
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Urban Council Ordinance, 1934.
2. In this Ordinance :--
"Council" means the Urban Council.
"Chairman" means the officer for the time being lawfully performing the duties of Chairman of the Council.
"Secretary" means any person appointed by the Governor to be Secretary and includes an Assistant Secretary.
"Health Offcer" includes any Medical Officer appointed as a Health Officer by the Governor by notification in the Gazette.
"Veterinary Officer" includes the Colonial Veterinary Surgeon and any Assistant Colonial Veterinary Surgeon.
3. (1) The Sanitary Board shall be abolished and re- placed by an Urban Council which shall consist of the Chair- man of the Council, appointed by the Governor, the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services who shall be Vice-Chairman, the Director of Public Works, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, the Inspector General of Police, and not more than eight additional members who shall hold office for three years from the notification of their respective appointments or elec- tions in the Gazette.
(2) Three of the said additional members shall be elected by an electorate composed of the persons whose names shall appear in one or other of the two parts of the register herein- after referred to: Provided that if nominations are not received for all the vacancies announced, it shall be lawful for the Governor to fill by appointment any vacancy or vacancies which are not filled by election.
(3) The first part of the register shall consist of the two Jurors Lists for the current jury year brought into force under the provisions of the Jury Ordinance, 1887, as amended by the Jury Amendment Ordinance, 1929.
(4) The second part of the said register, which shall be kept by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, shall consist of the names of all male persons of any of the following classes
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who shall have duly applied to be registered therein, and whose claims to be registered shall have been duly allowed:--
(a) unofficial members of the Executive or Legislative Council;
(b) persons of sound mind who have previously been in- cluded in the Jurors Lists but have been omitted or removed therefrom on account of age or infirmity, or on account of exemption from jury service granted by the Governor in Council or by the Court;
(c) barristers and solicitors in actual practice and the clerks of solicitors in actual practice;
Nos. 1 of 1914, and
(d) persons registered under section 4 of the Medical Ordinances Registration Ordinance, 1884, or under the Dentistry Ordin- ance, 1914, or under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, 1916;
(e) editors and sub-editors of daily newspapers published in the Colony;
(f) clergymen of the Church of England, Roman Catholic priests, and ministers of any congregation of Protestant Dis- senters or of Jews, acting as such in the Colony;
(g) professors and other academic officers of the Univer- sity of Hong Kong;
(h) masters of schools which are certified by the Director of Education as not being vernacular schools;
(i) masters of steamers and local pilots; and
() officers and non-commissioned officers of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Hong Kong Naval Volunteer Force, and also such other members of the said Corps or of the said Force as shall have been exempted from jury service by the Governor in Council;
Provided that no person who is in the service of the Crown, and whose whole time is at the disposal of the Crown, shall be entitled to be included in the said register.
(5) If any question arises as to the right of any person to be included in the second part of the said register such question shall be decided by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, subject to an appeal within seven days to the Governor in Council whose decision thereupon shall be final; Provided that it shall be lawful for the Governor in Council to vary such decision at any time.
1884, 16 of
9 of 1916.
1903.
(6) Subject to any rules which may have been made under Ordinance section 9 of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903, No. 1 of or which may be made under section 4 of this Ordinance, the second part of the said register shall be closed to any fresh applications for registration for fourteen days before the day appointed for any ballot for the election of a member of the Urban Council, and shall remain closed until after the ballot- ing in that election shall have been completed.
(7) Every person who at any ballot held under this sec- tion applies for a ballot paper in the name of some other person, whether that name be that of a person living or dead or of a fictitious person, or who, having voted once at any such ballot, applies at the same ballot for a ballot paper his own name, and every person who, for the purpose of procuring his registration in the second part of the register
in
Rules as to election of
members of
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referred to in sub-sections (3) to (7), knowingly makes any false or misleading representation, whether verbal or in writ- ing or by conduct, shall upon summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding $500 and to imprisonment for any term not exceeding three months.
(8) If any question arises as to the validity of any pro- ceeding in any election or intended election of a member of the Urban Council the decision of the Governor in Council. thereon shall be final and conclusive for all purposes what- soever, and the Governor in Council may thereupon give any direction which he may think fit.
(9) The other five additional members (three of whom shall be Chinese) shall be appointed by the Governor.
(10) Persons, whether elected or appointed by the Governor, who immediately before the commencement of this Ordinance were serving as additional members of the Sanitary Board under the provisions of section 8 of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903, shall be additional members of the Urban Council as if they had been elected or appointed under this section but shall remain in office only until the expiration of the terms for which they were originally elected or appointed as members of the Sanitary Board.
4. All matters relating to the keeping and revision of the register and to the election of the members shall be governed the Council. by rules made by the Governor in Council: Provided that -
the rules made under section 9 of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903, shall remain in force so far as they are applicable until they are altered or replaced by rules made by the Governor in Council under this section.
G. N. 408 of 1927.
Members' names to be gazetted.
Substitution
of members.
Duties of the Council.
5. The names of all members elected or appointed shall be forthwith notified in the Gazette.
6. If any member of the Council be at any time prevent- ed for more than six months by absence or other cause from acting, the Governor may appoint, or if the member has been elected, the electors may nominate, and, if more than one candidate, is nominated may elect, some other person to re- place such member, until he shall return or be able to resume his functions.
7. The duties of the Council shall be to exercise control within the area allotted to it over all matters in respect of which powers are given to it by this Ordinance or any other Ordinance.
Preserving
8. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the existence of Sanitary law in respect of matters over which the Council exercises Department. control there shall be a Sanitary Department.
of officers.
Appointment 9. The Governor may appoint a Secretary and Assistant Secretaries to the Council, and also Health Officers, Veterinary Officers and Sanitary and other Inspectors, all of whom shall be officers of the Sanitary Department, and may also appoint such servants of the Department as may be required.
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Director of
Services.
10. The Director of Medical and Sanitary Services shall Position of be the professional adviser to the Council in all medical Medical and matters including matters of public health and sanitation. Sanitary It shall be his duty to assist and advise the Council on such matters and to superintend the enforcement and observance of all Ordinances relating to Public Health and of the by-laws and regulations made thereunder.
Chairman
11. (1) The Chairman of the Council shall give such Duties of instructions as may be necessary for carrying out and giving of Council. effect to the decisions and policy of the Council, and shall be responsible also for the general administration of the Sanitary Department.
Medical and
(2) On receipt of any such instructions affecting public Duties of health the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services shall Director of issue the necessary directions to the officers under his control Sanitary and shall be responsible for their being duly carried out.
Services.
unaffected
12. The Council shall be held to be legally constituted Constitution notwithstanding any vacancies occurring therein by the death, byvacancies absence, resignation, or incapacity of any member.
on the Council.
13.-(1) The Council shall meet once in every alternate Council week and oftener if need be, and may adjourn from time to meetings. time. The Chairman may at any time, and shall, on a requisi- tion signed by three members of the Council, summon a meet- ing thereof.
(2) Any four members shall be a quorum, and at every Quorum. meeting at which the Chairman or Vice-Chairman is absent the members present shall appoint a temporary chairman to pre- side. The chairman at any meeting shall have an original vote and also, if the votes be equal, a casting vote.
14. (1) The Council may make Standing Orders for Standing regulating the procedure at its meetings.
(2) The present Standing Orders of the Sanitary Board shall continue in force so far as they are applicable until re- placed under this section.
orders.
of select committees.
15.-(1) The Council may appoint select committees, Appointment consisting of not less than two of its members or one of its members and a Health Officer or a Veterinary Officer, and may by appointment or removal change the personnel of any such committee.
(2) The Council may by resolution delegate any of its powers and functions to any Health Officer or to any such select committee as aforesaid, with full powers to enforce any of the provisions of any Ordinance or by-law conferring powers on the Council or providing for the more effectual sanitation of the Colony, and may revoke such delegation.
Delegation
of powers to Health
Officers or
to select committees..
orders of
(3) Any failure to comply with the orders of a Health Failure to Officer or of such select committee, duly signed by the Secre- comply with tary of the Council, shall be punishable in the same manner the Health as if such order had been made by the Council.
Officers or of select committees.
Construction
of references to Sanitary Board, etc.
Commence- ment.
Ordinance No. 31 of 1911.
Repeal of Ordinances
No. 19 of
6
16. Whenever in any Ordinance, Order of the Governor in Council, Order of the Governor, Standing Order, rule, re- gulation, minute, by-law, deed, contract, official letter or other document, the term "Sanitary Board" or "President of the Sanitary Board'' occurs, and, in order to give effect thereto it is necessary to substitute "Urban Council" or "Chairman of the Urban Council" such document shall be read and construed accordingly.
17. Subject to section 9 of the Interpretation Ordinance, 1911, and except for the purposes of appointing or electing the first members of the Council, this Ord.nance shall not come into operation until such date as the Governor shall notify by Proclamation as the commencement of this Ordinance.
18. The Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903, No. 1 of 1903, the Public Health and Buildings Amendment Ordinance, 1927, No. 6 of 1927, the Public Health and Buildings Amendment Ordinance, 1928, the Public Health and Buildings Amendment Ordinance, 1929, the Public Health and Buildings Amendment Ordinance, 1930, the Public Health and Buildings Amendment Ordinance, 1931, and the Public Health and Buildings Amendment (No. 2) Ordi- nance, 1931, are repealed.
1928, No. 30 of 1929, No. 18 of
1930, No. 3 of 1931 and No. 18 of
1931.
Objects and Reasons.
1. In his Report on the need for the reorganisation of the Medical and Sanitary Services of the Colony the Director of those Services recommends th the Public Health and Build- ings Ordinance, (No. 1 of 1903) which deals with building con- struction, sanitation, infectious diseases control, food con- trol, etc., should be broken up into a number of Ordinances, each dealing with its particular branch of the Public Health Complex.
2. This Bill provides for the replacement of the Sanitary Board by an Urban Council and also repeals the various Public Health and Buildings Ordinances.
3. The Sanitary Board had four official and six unofficial members, two of whom were elected. It is proposed in the Urban Council to have five official members and also to in- crease the number of unofficial members to eight. Of these, three are to be elected, and five, of whom three must be Chinese, nominated by the Governor.
August, 1934.
R. E. LINDSELL,
Attorney General.
;
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TABLE OF CORRESPONDENCE.
Marginal note,
Urban Council Ordinance, 1933.
Source, with modifications.
Short title.
1
F.M.S. S.B. Enactment,
1916.
Interpretation.
2
Composition of Urban
3
Council which is to re-
place
the Sanitary
Board.
Rules as to election of
4
members of this Coun-
cil.
Public Health and Buil- dings Ordinance, 1903, section 8 as amended by section 5 of No. 6 of 1927.
s.s. (1). Inspector General of Police added as official member. Eight unofficials instead six.
of
s.s. (2) three unofficials
to be elected as
pared with two.
com-
s.s. (4) (e) "reporters"
omitted.
(j) = former s.s. (4) (j) as amended by No. 30 of 1933, s. 19 (2).
s.s. (10) Preserves status of members of Sanitary Board as members of Urban Council.
P.H. & B.O. No. 1 of
1903, sec. 9-redrafted to keep the old rules in force.
Members
names to be
5
P.H. & B.O. Section 10
gazetted.
cut down, since the
Substitution of members.
6
Vice President is to be the D.M.S.S.
P.H. & B.O. Section 11. "and if more than one candidate is nominated may elect." added.
Duties of the Urban Coun-
cil.
7
Preserving existence of
8
Sanitary Department.
Appointment of officers.
9
P.H. & B.O. Section 19
modified.
Position of D.M.S.S.
10
Duties of the Chairman
11
s.s. (1)-P.H.& B.O. s. 8
of Council and of the D.M.S.S.
(10). s.s. (2) new.
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Table of Correspondence,-Continued.
Marginal note.
Urban Council Ordinance,
1933.
Source, with modifications.
Constitution unaffected by
12
P.H. & B.O. Section 12.
vacancies on the Council.
Council meetings
13
Quorum
P.H. & B.O. Section 13.
s.s. (2) redrafted.
Standing orders.
14
P.H. & B.O. Section 14.
s.s. (2) preserves former standing orders.
Appointment of Select
Committees.
15 (1)
P.H. & B.O. Section 14
(2).-redrafted.
Delegation of powers to Health Officers or Select Committees.
15 (2)
P.H. & B.O. Section 15
(1).
Failure to comply with orders of Health Officers or of Select Committees.
15 (3)
P.H. & B.O. Section 15
(2).
Construction of references
to Sanitary Board, etc.
Commencement.
16
Ordinance No. 37 of 1932,
Section 30.
17
Repeals of Ordinances.
18
!
9
Notes on new draft of Urban Council Bill.
s. 2
s. 3
"Health Officer"-D.M.S.S. excluded (at his
(at his own desire) to prevent repugnancy with new s. 9. "Veterinary Officer"-redrafted.
s.s. (2) "Three" instead of "four" of the additional (unofficial) members to be elected.
s.s. (4) (e) "reporters" omitted.
() redrafted as in s. 19 (2) of Ordinance
No. 30 of 1933.
s.s. (9) "five" instead of "four" additional members. to be nominated by the Governor, "three" (instead of "two") of whom are to be Chinese.
s.s. (10) added-preserving status members of the Sanitary Board.
on Council of
ss. 8, 9, 10 and 11 are new: they have been framed after
careful consultation with the D.M.S.S.
s 8
s. 9