11. REGULATIONS UNDER S. 71 OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT, 1915. Regulations made-4. Regulation I of 1920 validates sentences passed and acts done under Martial Law in parts of the North-West Frontier Province during a portion of the year 1919 and indemnifies persons acting in good faith. Other Regulations were of minor importance. 12. ORDINANCES UNDER S. 72 OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ACT, 1915. Ordinances made-4. The Treaty of Peace Ordinance No. I of 1920 is made to give effect to the provisions of art. 296 of the Treaty of Peace with Germany pending the issue of an Order in Council applicable to India on the lines of the Treaty of Peace Order, 1919, which did not apply to India. Similarly the Treaty of Peace (Austria) Ordinance, No. 4 of 1920, is designed to give temporary effect to art. 248 of the Treaty of Peace with Austria. It is likewise replaced by an Order in Council. The Rouble Note Ordinance, No. 2 of 1920, continues certain of the provisions of the Ordinance of 1919 on the same subject which was on the point of expiring. It provides that rouble notes in deposit at the Government Treasuries under the provisions of the former Ordinance should not be withdrawn save with the permission of Government. It prohibits import and penalizes possession. It was repealed and re-enacted with slight modifications by an Act of the Legislature a few months later. The Gold Ordinance, No. 3 of 1920, was rendered necessary by large illicit importations of sovereigns across the land frontiers of British India in order to avoid their acquisition at a fixed rate of ten rupees under the Gold (Import) Act of 1917. The Ordinance enacts as a temporary measure that gold coins issued under the Indian Coinage Act of 1906 should cease to be legal tender, but a period of grace of 21 days was allowed within which such coins might be delivered to the Treasury. The Ordinance was repealed by the Indian Coinage (Amendment) Act, 36 of 1920, which declares that gold coins should be legal tender at the rate of ten rupees to the sovereign. VI. EASTERN COLONIES. 1. HONG-KONG. [Contributed by C. G. ALABASTER, Esq., O.B.Ε.] Ordinances passed-23. Much of the legislation of the year was passed to bring the law of the Colony into line with the post-war legislation of the United Kingdom. Thus the Non-Ferrous Metal Industry Ordinance (No. 1) is based on 7 & 8 Geo. V., c. 67, and The Banking Business (Prohibited Control) 10 Ordinance (No. 2) on 8 & 9 Geo. V., c. 31. Other Ordinances prescribed the date of the termination of the war and made provision for the vesting of property in the Custodians of Enemy Property in Hong-Kong and China (Nos. 9, 11, and 12). Capital Conversion. The remarkable rise in the value of silver which was accentuated in the following year induced the directors of two insurance companies and a bank to obtain legislative sanction for the conversion of their silver capital into gold (Nos. 4, 5, and 6). The operative clauses in these Ordinances were in the following form : The company may at any time by special resolution convert its silver capital as existing at the date of the confirmation of such special resolution, and such conversion shall take effect upon such special resolution being confirmed. Any such conversion may be into such form of gold ✓ currency and at such rate of exchange and upon such terms and conditions as may be sanctioned by the special resolution effecting the conversion. Upon the filing of any such special resolution ... the Registrar of Companies shall issue a fresh certificate of incorporation of the company showing the capital of the company as affected by such conversion. Such fresh certificate shall take the place of the original certificate of incorporation of the company and shall be the certificate of incorporation of the company. Former Enemy Aliens. - By Ordinance No. 16 no person who is a citizen or subject of a State with which His Majesty was at war during the year 1918 may come to or be within the Colony of Hong-Kong either generally or for a limited period unless he possesses a permit for that purpose signed by the Colonial Secretary. The Ordinance continues in force for three years from the end of August 1919. Indictments. - The Indictments Ordinance (No. 17) follows 5 & 6 Geo. V., c. 90. Sugar Convention. Ordinance No. 19 repeals the Sugar Convention Ordinance of 1904. Rice. A shortage in the staple food of the majority of the inhabitants, due to a variety of causes, led to the passing of the Rice Ordinance (No. 20) empowering the Government to seize rice-on payment of compensation-to fix standards of quality, and to fix the retail price. Military Service. - The Military Service Ordinances of 1917 and 1918 were repealed. Other Ordinances dealt with increasing the penalties for smuggling arms and ammunition, the protection of Marine Stores, the Regulation of Places of Public Entertainment, and the establishment of a special residential district in one of the smaller islands of the new Territories. 1920. Ordinances passed-17. No Ordinance of outstanding interest was passed in 1920. Ordinance No. 1, the Foreign Corporations (Execution of Instruments under Seal), Ordinance provides that the power of attorney or other document of authorization of an agent of a foreign corporation need not be under seal unless a seal is required by the law of the State in which the corporation is incorporated. Volunteers. - A new Ordinance for the formation of a volunteer force became necessary on the disbanding of the two local forces which had done service during the war (No. 2). Unlawful Societies. - The Societies Ordinance, 1911, which required every society to register or to obtain special exemption from registration, having proved unnecessary, was repealed and in its place Ordinance No. 8 of 1920 declared unlawful the Triad Society, all societies which use a Triad ritual, and all societies which have among their objects unlawful purposes or purposes incompatible with the peace and good order of the Colony. Protection of Plants. The Plants Ordinance (No. 11) made it lawful for the Governor in Council to make such regulations as he shall think expedient for the purpose of protecting trees and shrubs from destruction, injury, or removal. An unusual feature is the provision that in any such regulations the onus of proof may be thrown on the defendant. Intimidation. The Criminal Intimidation Ordinance is adapted from s. 503 of the Indian Penal Code and makes it an offence to threaten with injury to the person, reputation, or property with intent to alarm or to cause a person threatened to do any act which he is not legally bound to do or to omit to do any act which he is legally entitled to do. The other Ordinances of the year 1920 are without special interest. 2. STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. [Contributed by A. DE MELLO, ESQ.] Ordinances passed-30. Labour (No. 19). - This is a consolidating and amending Ordinance, modelled on the Labour Code (Enactment No. 6 of 1912) of the Federated Malay States (vide Journal, vol. xiv., Review of Legislation, p. 90), but the following provisions (shown by experience to be necessary for the efficient working of the prior Ordinance 1882-1919) are new: (a) S. 73 (1), which provides that every Chinese immigrant-ship arriving at any port in the Colony shall be visited by a health officer. (b) S. 74, which provides for the examination of Chinese immigrants arriving in the Colony by train. (c) S. 81, which enacts that, whenever any Chinese immigrant, who is indebted for passage-money, etc., enters into an engagement to labour in the Colony, or the Federated Malay States, or such other Malay States as Johore, Kedah, or Trengganu, his creditor shall appear before, and furnish information to, the Protector of Chinese as to the particulars of such engagement. (d) S. 84, which imposes a penalty on the master, etc., of a Chinese immigrant-ship for having on board immigrants from the port of departure in excess of the number stated in the certificate. (e) S. 85, which imposes a penalty on the master of a Chinese immigrant-ship for not having sanitary arrangements on board for immigrants in accordance with the rules made by the Governor in Council. (f) S. 86, which deals with stowaways on Chinese immigrant ships. (g) The definition of " estate" in s. 144, which is widened to include any quarry, brickfield, or oil-station on which 25 or more labourers are - employed, and to which the provisions or any portion of the provisions of Part X. of the Ordinance are applied by Governor's notification. (h) S. 150, which relates to the erection of "lines" (= labourers' dwellings) on an estate. (i) S. 197, which provides that a notice-board on which shall be painted the name of the " estate," etc., shall be erected by the high road at the main entrance to the estate. (j) S. 109, which provides that any Chinese immigrant, who is indebted for passage-money and has entered into an engagement to labour in any place beyond the Colony and Federated Malay States, shall, before he emigrates, appear in person before the Protector of Chinese, in order that he may ascertain whether the contract or agreement is valid, and whether the labourer fully understands and is willing to be bound by the terms of the engagement. (k) S. 210, which reproduces almost in its entirety s. 7 of Ordinance 12 of 1910, which had been repealed by Ordinance 16 of 1914, The provisions of the repealed section, which were designed for the protection of persons engaged to take part in any exhibition or in any theatrical, musical, or spectacular performance, are re-enacted on instructions from the Secretary of State for the Colonies. (l) S. 252 (1) (d), which empowers the Governor in Council to make rules prescribing the accommodation and sanitary arrangements to be provided and maintained on board immigrant-ships bringing immigrants to this Colony. Mosquitoes, Destruction (No. 15). — Amends Ordinance No. 38 of 1919 by providing penalties against owners and occupiers of land, not only for active interference with works constructed for the destruction of mosquitoes, but also for using their land in such a way as to allow such works to be damaged. It also establishes a kind of union between the health officer and the Municipality or Rural Board, whose employee he is in fact. Police Force (No. 20). -Except for minor amendments, this Ordinance consolidates several prior Ordinances beginning from 1872 to 1914, dealing with the constitution, powers, duties, and discipline of the Police Force. The principal amendments are as follows: (a) S. 2 deals with alterations in nomenclature. All members of the Police Force are classified as "Gazetted Police Officers" and as "Enrolled Police Officers," and these latter are again subdivided into "Superior Police Officers," " Subordinate Police Officers," and "Constables. " (6) Under S. 7 (2) the members of the Railway Police Force of the Federated Malay States, while on duty in the Colony, are placed in the same position as the members of the Police Force of the Colony. (c) S. 13 prohibits the attachment or the taking in execution of the pay or the person of a Subordinate Police Officer or Constable for debt. (d) S. 20 permits an Enrolled Police Officer, on the expiry of his first period of service, to continue in the force on a contract of service from month to month. Hitherto, such officer had to bind himself for definite periods. (e) S. 26 (2) authorizes the additional punishments of compulsory drills or fatigue duties in the case of constables guilty of various breaches of police duties. (f) Part IV. (ss. 30-40 inclusive) is new, and provides for the creation of a Volunteer Police Reserve for service in each Settlement of the Colony. The service is to be purely voluntary, and any British subject other than a member of the Army or Navy or Defence Force may volunteer for service. Provision is made under s. 36 for calling out for service in case of actual or apprehended riot or invasion. S. 37 authorizes the grant of pensions or gratuities not exceeding $2,000 to reservists disabled on service, and to widows and families of those killed on service. Under s. 38 officers and members of the Police Reserve, when called out for active service, are given the same powers, rights, and immunities as members of the Police Force. (g) S. 50 provides for the grant of gratuities or other relief to dependents of Enrolled Police Officers. Hitherto there had been no legal authority for such a grant to dependents of such officers killed in the discharge of their duties. (h) S. 52, following the Pensions Ordinance, 1887, prohibits the assignment of pensions, and provides for termination thereof on bankruptcy or conviction on a criminal charge. (i) S. 57 legalizes the issue of necessary departmental and routine orders by the Inspector-General or a Chief Police Officer, the former being allowed to promulgate orders for the whole Colony, while the orders issued by the latter have only local application to each Settlement of the Colony. Schools Registration (No. 21). - The Education Department of the Government had hitherto exercised control and supervision over Government Schools, and such schools as received aid from Government. Other schools, however, were entirely independent of Government control. This was found an unsatisfactory state of affairs, and this Ordinance, based on similar law in the Colony of Hong-Kong, gives the Education Department legal control over all schools, and enforces registration of all schools of 15 or more pupils and of all teachers employed in them. It is hoped thus to ensure that the education of future citizens is conducted by suitable persons on suitable lines. The Director of Education is empowered, subject to appeal to the Chief Secretary, to close any school which does not comply with its requirements, and any school which is not necessary for educational purposes. The Governor in Council may make grants-in-aid to Schools (s. 20). A similar Enactment (No. 27) has been passed for the Federated Malay States. 3. FEDERATED MALAY STATES. Enactments passed-32. Births and Deaths Registration (No. 13) amends the prior law so as to prevent errors and inaccuracies in the records of the état civil by dividing each of the four States (Selangor, Perak, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang) into such number of registration areas as their respective Residents consider necessary (s. 3). Each registration area is placed in charge of a Registrar and Deputy Registrar appointed for the purpose, |