************************************************************
The Government will gazette the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cemeteries) (Amendment of Fifth Schedule) Order 2012 (the Order) on November 9. The Order deletes the New Kowloon Cemetery No. 2 (Little Sisters of the Poor Cemetery) from Part II (i.e. the list of private cemeteries) of the Fifth Schedule to the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132)(the Fifth Schedule) and deletes the Garden of Remembrance (GoR) at Cape Collinson from Part I (i.e. the list of public cemeteries) of the same Schedule.
The New Kowloon Cemetery No. 2 (Little Sisters of the Poor Cemetery) was designated as a private cemetery in Part II of the Fifth Schedule in 1928. In 2003, the operator of the cemetery handed over the site for the redevelopment of the St. Joseph's Home for the Aged. In February 2006, the Town Planning Board approved the redevelopment proposal and the approval was further renewed in February 2010. The cemetery site now forms part of a lot in a land exchange proposal currently under negotiation between the lot owner and the Lands Department. The cemetery operator has confirmed that all human remains previously buried in the cemetery in question had already been relocated either to the Cheung Sha Wan Catholic Cemetery or to the Chai Wan Catholic Cemetery. The site is no longer used as a cemetery and should therefore be deleted from the Fifth Schedule.
GoRs and public cemeteries are at present subject to provisions in two different pieces of subsidiary legislation, namely the Cremation and Gardens of Remembrance Regulation (Cap. 132 sub. leg. M) and the Public Cemeteries Regulation (Cap. 132 sub. leg. BI). The GoR at Cape Collinson is currently included in both Part I "Public Cemeteries" and Part VII "Gardens of Remembrance" of the Fifth Schedule and the listing is confusing. The Government proposes to remove the duplication by deleting the GoR at Cape Collinson from Part I of the Fifth Schedule.
The Order will be tabled in the Legislative Council on November 14. Subject to smooth passage through the negative vetting procedures of the Legislative Council, the Order will commence on January 11, 2013.
Ends/Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:01
NNNN
