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Cliff Buddle

BENEVOLENT magistrates need not dig into their pockets to help destitute defendants, the Judiciary said yesterday.

   The court poor box, the traditional means by which magistrates helped the needy, was still in existence and had $8,000 in government funds available at the start of each financial year.

   Last Saturday Magistrate Jonathan Acton-Bond offered to give a street sleeper $100 of his own money after being told the poor box was no longer available.

    But a Judiciary spokesman said there had been a misunderstanding.

    Chief Magistrate Anthony To is considering sending a memo to court clerks to clarify the situation.

    The poor box originated in England where, from the early 17th century, churches passed a box around the congregation so contributions could be made for those in need.

    In Hong Kong, magistrates can order payments be made out of the poor box at their own discretion. But it appears this power is rarely exercised these days - so far this year only $200 has been withdrawn from the fund.

    The $8,000 available at the beginning of each financial year had easily been sufficient to meet the payments ordered by magistrates, said the Judiciary.

    Mr Acton-Bond offered to pay street sleeper Cheng Kin-chung, 39, after being told money was no longer available from the poor box.

    He wanted Cheng to have money to tide him over the bank holiday when social welfare offices would be shut. Cheng, who was conditionally discharged after pleading guilty to the theft of two packets of sweets, left court without collecting the money.

  One reason why the poor box fund has not been widely used could be that magistrates are not aware they can still use it.

    Three senior clerks at different Magistrates Courts told the South China Morning Post they believed the poor box had been scrapped.

    Ho Kwong-liu, first clerk at Western Court, said he sent a message to Mr Acton-Bond on Saturday warning him this might be the case.

    Mr Ho said he recalled a direction some time ago to the effect the poor box no longer existed.

    He thought there was a way in which a defendant could be referred to the Supreme Court for such a payment to be made, but this would have been difficult on Saturday because it was a public holiday.

    Mr Ho had known of other occasions when magistrates dipped into their pockets to help poor defendants.

    The first clerk at Eastern Court, H. W. Tsang, said payments could be made from the petty cash fund and reclaimed from the Supreme Court. But he thought this was different to the poor box which had existed 'in the old days'.

    Ho Koon-chee, first clerk at North Kowloon Court, said he was under the impression the poor box had been cancelled many years ago, although a fund did exist to pay witnesses' expenses.



Poor box not empty, magistrates told