CHINESE PERMANENT CEMETERIES ORDINANCE

CHINESE PERMANENT CEMETERIES ORDINANCE

LAWS OF HONG KONG

CHINESE PERMANENT CEMETERIES

ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 1112





CHAPTER 1112

CHINESE PERMANENT CEMETERIES ORDINANCE

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section Page
1. Short title ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3
2. Interpretation ... ... ...... ... ... *** ... ...
... 3
3. Establishment and constitution of the Board ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... 3
4. Meetings of the Board ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4
5. Conduct of business of the Board ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... 5
6. Purposes of the Board ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5
7. Powers of the Board ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5
8. Power of the Board to make rules ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... 6
9. Incorporation of the Board and use of common seal ... ... ... ...
... ... 6
10. Accounts ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7
11. Transitional provisions ... ... ...... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7
12. Saving ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7





CHAPTER 1112

CHINESE PERMANENT CEMETERIES

To give statutory recognition to and to regulate the provision of
permanent cemeteries for persons of Chinese race permanently
resident in the Colony and to provide for the proper maintenance
and administration thereof, and for purposes connected therewith.

[4 December 1964.]

WHEREAs

(a)by 3 deeds of appropriation dated respectively 16 June 1913,
22 August 1929 and 31 May 1963 (hereinafter referred to as
the Deeds of Appropriation) certain parcels of land were
thereby appropriated for use as cemeteries for persons of
Chinese race who were permanent residents of the Colony
although the title to the said land remained vested in the
Crown;

(b)the cost of laying out the land the subject of the said Deed of
Appropriation dated 16 June 1913, was met by subscription
and by the said Deed it was provided that the application of
the sums so raised, and the duty of managing the cemetery
the subject thereof, be entrusted to a Board of Management
(in this Ordinance referred to as the former Board where the
context so requires) subject to the rules and regulations set
out in the said Deed;

(c)the said rules and regulations provided, inter alia, that the
former Board should be composed of not less than 12 nor
more than 20 members of whom the Director of Public Works,
the Secretary for Chinese Affairs (then styled Registrar
General) and the Director of Urban Services (then styled the
Head of the Sanitary Department) were ex officio members and
the remaining members were to be selected from and elected
by those who subscribed as mentioned in paragraph (b) and
were, subject to certain exceptions, to hold office for life;

(d)by the subsequent Deeds of Appropriation the additional
pieces of land therein described were appropriated to the
former Board upon terms similar to those upon which the first
piece of land was appropriated thereto and the cost of laying
out such subsequent pieces of land as cemeteries was met out
of the funds, then held by the former Board, derived from the
management of the first cemetery;





(e)all of the said pieces of land are now used exclusively as
cemeteries and burial grounds for persons of the Chinese race
permanently resident in the Colony;

it is considered desirable that the said former Board be
dissolved and replaced by a body corporate having perpetual
succession and full powers to provide, administer and manage
cemeteries and burial grounds for such persons of the
Chinese race:

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Chinese Permanent
Cemeteries Ordinance.

2. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires-

'Board' means the Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent
Cemeteries established by virtue of the provisions of section 3;

'Chairman' means the Secretary for District Administration;
(Amended, L.N. 22169; L.N. 257175; L.N. 370181 and L.N. 67185)

'Chinese Permanent Cernetery' means any cemetery or burial ground
for the time being under the management and control of the Board;

'Deeds of Appropriation' means the Deeds of Appropriation referred
to in paragraph (a) of the preamble to this Ordinance;

'former Board' means the Board of Management referred to in
paragraph (b) of the preamble;

'permanently resident in the Colony', in relation to any person, means
continuously resident in the Colony for such period of time and
subject to such conditions as the Board may prescribe by rules
made under section 8.

3. (1) There shall be established in the Colony a Board which shall
be called the Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent
Cemeteries.

(2) The Board shall consist of-

(a) the following ex officio members--
(i) the Secretary for District Administration, who shall
be the Chairman of the Board;(Amended, L.N. 22169;
L.N. 257/75; L.N. 370/81. and L.N. 67/85)

(ii) the Director of Buildings and Lands; (Amended, L.N.
76/82 and L.N. 94/86)

(iii) the Director of Urban Services;

(iv) the Director of Regional Services; and (Added, 30 of
1987, s. 2)

(b)not less than 8 nor more than 16 other members who shall be
appointed by the Governor and shall hold office for 3





years and shall thereafter be eligible for reappointment to the
Board for further such periods as the Governor shall think fit.
(Amended, 30 of 1987, s. 2)

(3) Any ex offico member, other than the Secretary for
District Administration, may appoint in writing a senior member
of the staff of his Department to act on his behalf at all or any
meetings of the Board:(Amended, L.N. 22/69; L.N. 257/75; L.N.
370181 and L.N. 67185)

Provided that no such appointment shall be valid for more than 12
months from the date thereof.

(4) Any member of the Board, other than an ex officio member,
may, on giving not less than 1 month's notice in writing to the
Governor, resign from the Board.

(5) The Governor may terminate the appointment to the Board of
any member, other than an ex officio member, during the term of office
of such member--

(a)on being requested in writing so to do by a majority of three-
quarters of the members present at any meeting resolving
such course;

(b) in the case of incapacity of such member;

(c)in the case of absence from the Colony for more than 12
months of such member.

(6) There shall be a Treasurer and a Secretary to the Board who
shall be appointed by the Board.

4. (1) The Board shall meet at such times and in such places as the
Chairman may appoint:

Provided that

(a)the Board shall meet not less than twice in each calendar year
and one of such meetings shall be an annual general meeting
at which the annual accounts of the Board shall be presented;
and

(b)no meeting of the Board shall be deemed to have been validly
convened unless not less than 4 days' or, in the case of an
annual general meeting, 14 days' notice in writing thereof has
been given to each member of the Board then present in the
Colony.

(2) At any meeting of the Board 7 members shall constitute a
quorum.

(3) The validity of any proceedings of the Board shall not be
affected by any vacancy among the members thereof or by any defect
in the appointment of any member thereof.

(4) All questions coming or arising before a meeting of the Board
shall be determined by a majority of the members thereof present and
voting thereon.





(5) The Chairman at any meeting of the Board shall have an
original vote and also, if upon any question the votes shall be equally
divided, a casting vote.

(6) If the Chairman is unable to take the chair at any meeting of the
Board he may nominate any other member thereof to take the chair in
his stead, or, in the absence of the Chairman and such other member, if
any, the members present and voting at the meeting shall elect from
among their number 1 member to take the chair thereat.

(7) The Board may make standing orders for regulating the
procedure at, and in connexion with, its meetings.

5. (1) The Board may conduct its business in such manner as
appears to it expedient and may for that purpose appoint from among its
members select committees and may authorize any such committee to co-
opt thereto such additional members, not necessarily being members of
the Board, as may appear to it to be necessary for the proper conduct of
the business delegated to it by the Board.

(2) The Board may employ, upon such terms and conditions as it
may think fit, such staff as shall appear to it to be necessary for the
proper conduct of the business of the Board.

6. The purposes of the Board shall be to provide, maintain and
administer cemeteries and burial grounds for persons of the Chinese
race permanently resident in the Colony.

7. (1) For the purposes specified in section 6, the Board shall have
full power

(a)to acquire, accept leases of, purchase, take and otherwise
hold and enjoy any lands, buildings, messuages or tenements
of what nature or kind soever and wheresoever situate;
(Amended, 74 of 1974, s. 3)

(b)to acquire, by purchase or otherwise, goods and chattels of
what nature or kind soever;

(e)to invest moneys on deposit in any bank in the Colony or in
any Government bonds or on mortgage of any lands,
buildings, messuages or tenements in the Colony or in or on
debentures, debenture stocks, funds, shares or securities of
any corporation or company carrying on business in the
Colony;

(d)to grant, sell, convey, assign, surrender, yield up, mortgage,
demise, let, reassign, transfer or otherwise dispose of any
lands, or buildings, messuages, tenements, mortgages,
debentures, debenture stocks, funds, securities, goods and
chattels for the time being vested in the Board, upon such
terms as the Board may deem fit;

(e)to erect any buildings, messuages or tenements and effect
any improvement thereto;





to borrow money upon such terms as the Board shall think
fit, and to raise money by public or private subscription;
and

(g)generally, to do such other things as may appear to be
incidental or conducive to the proper carrying out of the
purposes of the Board as set out in this subsection.

(2) In addition to and notwithstanding anything contained in
subsection (1), the Board may donate to any charity operating for
the benefit of persons of the Chinese race in the Colony any moneys
vested in it which are or may become surplus to the requirements
of the proper management, and administration and maintenance
of any Chinese Permanent Cemetery for the time being under the
control of the Board.

8. (1) The Board may make rules to govern-

(a) the conduct of the internal affairs of the Board; and

(b)the management and use of any Chinese Permanent
Cemetery.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), such
rules may-

(a)lay down a scale of fees to be charged on the grant to any
person of a right to use or designate a grave space for the
burial of himself or any member of his family;

(b)regulate the manner of burial and the forms of burial
service, ceremonies or rites to be performed in commemo-
ration of the dead;

(c)regulate the dimensions, allocation and use or reservation
of grave spaces;

(d)provide for the termination and cancellation of any right
referred to in paragraph (a); and

(e)provide for the disinterment and removal of human
remains.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to empower the
Board to make any rule-

(a)which derogates from any of the provisions of any by-laws
or regulations made pursuant to any of the provisions of
the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance which
relate to the control of private cemeteries within the
meaning of that Ordinance; or (Amended, 10 of 1986,
s.32(1))

(b)the contravention of which shall constitute a criminal
ofrence by any person.

9. (1) The Board shall be a body corporate and shall have
the corporate name of 'The Board of Management of the Chinese
Permanent Cemeteries', and in that name shall have perpetual





succession and may sue and be sued in all courts and shall have and
may use a common seal bearing such name.

(2) Any deed, document or other instrument requiring the seal of
the Board shall be sealed with the common seal and signed by the
Chairman and by the Secretary or the Treasurer of the Board or by such
other person as the Board may by resolution appoint for that purpose
and such signing shall for all purposes be taken as sufficient evidence
of the due sealing of such deed, document or other instrument.

10. (1) The Board shall cause proper accounts to be kept of all
transactions of the Board and shall cause to be prepared for every
period of 12 months ending on 31 December, in each year, a statement
of the accounts of the Board, which statement shall include an income
and expenditure account and a balance sheet.

(2) The accounts of the Board and the statement of the accounts
shall be audited by a professional accountant holding a practising
certificate as provided in the Professional Accountants Ordinance, not
being a member or ex-member of the Board, who shall certify the
statement subject to such report, if any, as he may think fit. (Amended, 76
of 1973, s. 3)

(3) The audited statement of accounts together with the auditor's
report, if any, shall thereafter be laid before the Board at the next
succeeding annual meeting thereof.

11. On the commencement of this Ordinance-

(a)all those pieces or parcels of land appropriated by the several
Deeds of Appropriation to the use of the former Board are
deemed to have been appropriated to the use of the Board
upon the same terms and conditions upon which they were
appropriated to the use of the former Board until the said land
be vested in the Board by appropriate leases of the same;

(b)the existing rules governing the maintenance and
management of Chinese Permanent Cemeteries made by the
former Board shall be deemed to have been made by the
Board and shall remain in operation unless and until the same
be revoked or replaced by new rules made by the Board
pursuant to the provisions of section 8.

12. Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or be deemed to affect
the tights of Her Majesty the Queen, Her Heirs or Successors, or the
rights of any body politic or corporate or any other persons except such
as are mentioned in this Ordinance and those claiming by, from or under
them.
Originally 35 of 1964. L.N. 22/69. 76 of 1973. 74 of 1974. L.N. 257/75. L.N. 370/81. L.N. 76/82. L.N. 67/85. 10 of 1986. L.N. 94/86. 30 of 1987. Preamble. Short title. Interpretation. Establishment and constitution of the Board. Meetings of the Board. Conduct of business of the Board. Purposes of the Board. Powers of the Board. Power of the Board to make rules. (Cap. 132.) Incorporation of the Board and use of common seal. Accounts. (Cap. 50.) Transitional provisions. Saving.

Originally 35 of 1964. L.N. 22/69. 76 of 1973. 74 of 1974. L.N. 257/75. L.N. 370/81. L.N. 76/82. L.N. 67/85. 10 of 1986. L.N. 94/86. 30 of 1987. Preamble. Short title. Interpretation. Establishment and constitution of the Board. Meetings of the Board. Conduct of business of the Board. Purposes of the Board. Powers of the Board. Power of the Board to make rules. (Cap. 132.) Incorporation of the Board and use of common seal. Accounts. (Cap. 50.) Transitional provisions. Saving.

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