BETTING (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

11.24 a.m.

The Chief Secretary (Mr E. B. David): Mr Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, under the existing provisions of the Betting Ordinance the police can make an entry and search only upon the authority of a warrant signed by a Justice of the Peace after the submission of written information on oath and after further enquiry which the Justice of the Peace may deem to be necessary has been conducted. Speedy police investigation and the apprehension of those breaking the law are often impossible when such investigation has to be preceded by the contacting of a Justice of the Peace, the laying of information before him and the formal issue of the necessary warrant. Secondly, those giving information are often unwilling to appear and repeat their information before a stranger in the person of the Justice. Finally, the time involved in arranging for depositions to be sworn before a Justice of the Peace adds to the delay in initiating action against those breaking the law.

Sir, owing to the frequent necessity of obtaining such warrants to search premises without delay, the practice arose some years ago, following that in the United Kingdom, of appointing police officers as Justices of the Peace. This practice is open to objection and has in fact been stopped now for some time past, since the exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial functions and the exercise of executive functions should properly be kept separate and distinct, and because it is undesirable that a police officer issuing search warrants on his own information or that of some other person closely associated with him should appear to be exercising a judicial discretion in doing so. Nevertheless, Sir, it is highly desirable that police investigations should begin immediately on receipt of information concerning the commission or intended commission of a crime, and the purpose of clauses 2 and 3 of this amending Bill, and of the two further Bills of which I shall be moving the Second Reading immediately, is to remedy this present position and to grant police officers not below the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police the necessary authority to issue written authorisation for entry and search of premises upon written information with which they are satisfied and after any further investigation they deem to be necessary.

Finally, Sir, I should point out that these amendments do not confer any indiscriminate right of entry and search on the police. Warrants to search or written authority to search are still a prerequisite to the entry into premises and such warrants can only be issued by a Justice of the Peace, and the written authority by senior police officers, that is, Assistant Superintendents and above. I should add that the powers now suggested have always been vested in the police under the equivalent legislation in the Federation of Malaya.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole Assembly.

Assembly immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. [Mr David.]

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read the Third time and passed.