Page:Police Force Ordinance, 1948 (Cap. 232).pdf/18

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THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.

Disposal of unclaimed property of persons in custody on remand.
Ordinance No. 38 of 1932.
39. Any property of a person held in custody on remand which comes into the custody or possession of the police in accordance with the requirements of this Ordinance or of the Prisons Ordinance, 1932, or of any regulations or orders made thereunder which remains unclaimed by any such person for a period of one month from the discharge of such person from custody may be sold and after deduction of expenses reasonably incurred the proceeds of sale shall be paid into the Treasury.

Power to administer certain property of deceased persons. 40. (1) Whenever any person dies leaving goods and chattels in the Colony under five hundred dollars in value, which goods and chattels are, in the absence of any person entitled thereto, taken charge of by the police for the purpose of safe custody, the Commissioner may, if he thinks fit, order the said goods and chattels to be delivered, without grant of probate or letters of administration taken out, to any person claiming to be entitled to the whole or any part thereof, if he shall be satisfied as to the title of the claimant and the value of the goods and chattels by the oath or affirmation of the claimant, or by such other evidence as he may require.

(2) In the event of any such goods and chattels being of a perishable nature or likely to be deteriorated in value by being kept the Commissioner may order the sale thereof and the proceeds of such sale shall be dealt with in the manner specified in sub-section (1) of this section.

(3) The Commissioner may, at his discretion, before making any order under the preceding sub-sections, take such security as he may think proper for the due administration and distribution of such goods and chattels. Nothing in this section contained shall affect the right of any person to recover the whole or any part of the same from the person to whom it may have been delivered pursuant to such order.

(4) Any goods and chattels taken charge of under this section and not claimed within the period of one month, may be sold and the proceeds of sale shall be paid into the Treasury: Provided always that if at any time thereafter the owner of such goods and chattels shall appear and claim the same, restitution shall be made, on the claim being established to the satisfaction of the Governor, out of the Treasury.

Disposal of valueless unclaimed goods or chattels.

41. If goods and chattels of the nature specified in sections 38, 39 and 40 are of no appreciable value or of value so small in the opinion of the Commissioner as to render impracticable the sale of such property, the Commissioner may