PO LEUNG KUK INCORPORATION ORDINANCE

PO LEUNG KUK INCORPORATION ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 306.

PO LEUNG KUK INCORPORATION.

For the incorporation of the Chinese society for the preven
tion ol kidnapping and for the protection of women an
children, commonly known as the Po Leung Kuk.

[26th June, 1893.]

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Po Leung Kuk
Incorporation Ordinance.

2. (1) Such persons as have heretofore or may here-
after becorne donors of any sum not under twenty-five dollars
io the funds of the Society known as the Po Leung KLik
or may subscribe annually to such funds a sum not under
five dollars (so long as they continue so to subscribe), and
whose names are entered upon the register of members
hereinafter mentioned, shall be one body politic and
corporate, in name and in deed, by the name of 'The Po
Leung Kuk', hereinafter called the Society, with perpetual
succession and a common seal, and with power to purchase,
acquire, receive, take, hold, and enjoy to themselves and
their successors any lands, tenements, hereditaments,
buildings, or other property of any kind whatever for the
purposes of the Society, and shall and may sue or take
proceedings and be sued in their corporate name in all
courts.

(2) The Society shall have power to invest moneys
upon mortgage of any lands, hereditaments, buildings,
messuages or tenements or upon the mortgages, debentures,
stocks, funds, shares or securities of any corporation or
company, and also to purchase, acquire and possess vessels
and other goods and chattels of what nature and kind soever.

(3) The Society shall have power, with the consent in
writing of the Governor, to grant, sell, convey, assign,
surrender, exchange, partition, yield up, mortgage, transfer,
or otherwise dispose of, or to let or demise for any period
exceeding three years, any lands, buildings, messuages, or
tenements, which are for the time being vested in or belong-
ing to it. In any such transaction the signature of the





Governor indorsed on the document or documents by means
of which the transaction is eflected shall be sufficient
evidence that such consent was given.

(4) The Society shall have power to let or demise for
any period not exceeding three years, upon such terms as
it may deem fit, any lands, buildings, messuages or
tenements, which are for the time being vested in or belong-
ing to it.

(5) The Society shall have power to sell, convey,
assign, surrender, exchange, partition, yield up, mortgage
demise, reassign, transfer or otherwise dispose of, upoll
such terms as it may deem fit, any debentures, stocks, funds,
shares, securities, vessels, or other goods or chattels, which
are for the time being vested in or belonging to it.

(6) All deeds and other documents requiring the seal
of the Society shall be scaled with its common seal in the
presence of two members of the elected committee and shall
also be signed by them, and such signing shall be taken as
sufficient evidence of the due sealing of such deeds and
documents.

3.The Society is incorporated for the purpose of
assisting the Government in the Suppression of kidnapping
and the protection of women and children, of aiding by
correspondence and other means in the detection and bring-
ing to justice of persons guilty of kidnapping and other
kindred offences, of helping to restore rescued persons to
their relatives or friends, and of providing a home for
rescued women and children until proper provision is made
for their marriage, adoption, or settlement in life, or other-
wise for their welfare.

4. The affairs of the Society shall be managed and its
variotis functions discharged by, a pernianent Board of
Direction, hereinafter called the Board, and by an elected
committee, hereinafter called the committee.

5. (1) The Board shall consist of such nuniber of
members as the Governor shall direct and shall include the
Secretary for Chinese Affairs, who shall be ex officio the
president, and also the members of the Executive Council





and of the Legislative Council representing the Chinese,
who shall be ex offlicio the vice-presidents.

(2) Vacancies in the Board shall be filled up by the
Governor, who may call upon the continuing members of
the Board for their recommendation.

(3) All appointments to the Board shall be held only
during the Governor's pleasure.

6. The Board shall, subject to the provisions of this
Ordinance, have full power and authority to govern, direct,
and decide all matters whatsoever connected with the
administration of the affairs of the Society and the
accomplishment of the objects and purposes thereof, subject
to an appeal to the Governor, as hereinafter provided, and
may at discretion depute, by regulations or otherwise, a
portion or the whole of its power and authority to the
elected committee.

7. The Board shall have power, with the consent of
the Governor, to change or vary the corporate name and the
common seal of the Society, and the amount of the donation
to the funds of the Society hereinbefore prescribed as a
qualification for becoming a member thereof, and may, with
such consent as aforesaid, refuse to admit any person as a
member or may expel any existing member and cause his
name to be erased from the register.

8. The Board shall have power to make regulations
for their procedure in the transaction of business and the
maintenance of good order at their meetings, and for the
guidance of the committee, and generally for all matters
relating to the administration and management of the Society
and the discharge of its various duties : Provided always
that a copy of such regulations shall be furnished to the
Colonial Secretary, and that they shall be subject to dis-
allowance, alteration, or amendment at any time by the
Governor.

9. All questions which may arisent any meeting of the
Board shall be decided by a majority of votes, and, in case
of an equality of votes, the president shall have a casting
vote in addition to his original vote : Provided that, in any





case in which the Board is divided in opinion, the president
or any two members of the Board may demand that the
point be referred to the Governor for his decision, which
shall in every such case be final.

10. (1) The committee shall consist of not less than
six and not more than twelve members of the Society, to
be elected as hereinafter mentioned, who shall from time to
time appoint one of their body to be chairman.

(2) Every rneinber of the committee shall hold office for
the term of one year only, bUt shall be eligible for re-election
at the expiration thereof.

11. (1) The members of the committee shall be elected
as occasion may require by a majority of votes of members
of the. Society who may be within the Colony, at the time
of such election.

(2) Every such member of the Society, whether a firm
or individual, shall be entitled to one vote only.

12. The committee shall, SUbject to such regulations as
may be made by the Boara in that behalf, undertake and
exercise the immediate supervision and management of the
work of the Society.

13. (1) The Board shall cause a register to be kept in
which every person or firm desiring to become a member of
the Society and being duly qualified shall, subject to the
provisions of section 7, be entitled to his name or firm
name inscribed.

(2) The Board shall cause proper books of account to
be kept, which shall be open at all reasonable times to the
inspection of members of the Society and of any person
whom the Governor may appoint in that behalf.

(3) The Board shall also, within one month after the
expiration of every year, transmit to the Colonial Secretary
a full report of work done during the previous year, together
with a true statement of the assets and liabilities of the
Society and an account of their receipts and disbursements
during the previous year, and such statement shall be verified
upon oath before a justice of the peace by two members
of the Board.





14. In case it is at any time shown, to the satisfaction
of the Governor, that the Society has ceased, or neglected,
or failed to carry out in a proper manner the objects and
purposes of its establishment as set forth in section 3, or the
objects and purposes of this Ordinance, or to fulfil the
conditions thereof, it shall be lawful for the Governor, by
an Ordinance to be passed for that purpose, to repeal this
Ordinance and to declare that the incorporation hereby
granted shall cease and determine and become absolutely
void.

15. In case the incorporation hereby granted ceases
under the provisions of section 13, all the property and
assets of the Society shall, for the purposes hereinafter
mentioned, become vested in the Crown, subject to the
rateable payment thereout of the just debts and liabilities,
if any, of the Society, to the extent of such property and
assets, and the balance of such property and assets shall
be applied by the Governor towards the objects for which
the Society was established or such of them as the Governor
may, in his discretion, deem best.

16. The buildings of the Society shall be kept and
maintained for the objects and purposes specified in section
3 out of the voluntary subscriptions to the Society and out
of such income or money as the Society may derive from
any source whatever.

17. All buildings and premises of the Society shall be
open, at all reasonable times, to the inspection of the
Governor, of the Commissioner of Police, of any two
unofficial justices of the peace who may be appointed by
the Governor to be visitors, or of any other persons whom
the Governor may appoint or authorize in writing in that
behalf. [18

18. (1) It shall be lawful for the Governor to direct
that the services of certain subordinate police officers and
of~certain district watchmen sliall he placed at the disposal,
of~ the Society on such terms and under such conditions ns
the Governor may sanction.





(2) Such police officers and district watchmen shall
regularly report their proceedings to the Commissioner of
Police. [19

19 Any person apprehended by any police officer shall,
without unreasonable delay, be sent or taken to a police
station, and any woman, or girl, or other person in respect
of whom there is cause to suspect that an offence has been,
or is being, or is about to be committed may be taken at
once to such place as may be provided by the Society or
to such other place of safety as the Secretary for Chinese
Affairs may direct, there to remain until proper provision
can be made for the protection of such person's interests and
liberty, and so that in the meantime the evidence of such
person may be available when required. [20
Originally 10 of 1893. Fraser 6 of 1893. Short title. Incorporation of Po leung Kuk society. [s. 2 cont.] Object and purpose of incorporation. Management of Society. Permanent Board of Direction. General powers of Board. Further powers of Board. Regulations. Determination of questions at meetings of Board. [s. 9 cont.] Constitution of committee. Election of committee. Powers of committee. Register of members. Cases in which incorporation may be determined. Disposal of property in case of incorportion ceasing. Buildings. Inspection of buildings. Use if services of police, etc., [s. 18 cont.] Course to be adopted when person apprehended.

Originally 10 of 1893. Fraser 6 of 1893. Short title. Incorporation of Po leung Kuk society. [s. 2 cont.] Object and purpose of incorporation. Management of Society. Permanent Board of Direction. General powers of Board. Further powers of Board. Regulations. Determination of questions at meetings of Board. [s. 9 cont.] Constitution of committee. Election of committee. Powers of committee. Register of members. Cases in which incorporation may be determined. Disposal of property in case of incorportion ceasing. Buildings. Inspection of buildings. Use if services of police, etc., [s. 18 cont.] Course to be adopted when person apprehended.

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