A History of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival as a Public Holiday in Colonial Hong Kong

chronological sources:

Holidays Amendment Bill 1940 (13 December 1940) (Bills Database) 

1. Title of Ordinance: General Holidays Ordinance
2. Proposed by: Attorney General
3. Gazette date of Bill (Contents of the Bill): 13 December 1940
4. Gazette date of Ordinance: 17 January 1941 (Ord. No. 1 of 1941)
5. Date of First Reading of Bill: 19 December 1940
6. Objects and Reasons: "The amendment proposed in clause 3 of the Bill is the abolition of the General holiday on the first Monday in September and the substitution therefor of a General holiday on the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival day, or if that day should be a Sunday then the following day"

CO 129/590/10, Holidays Amendment Ordinance 1941: 1941 Jan. 17-Feb. 3. 

1. "An Ordinance to amend the Holidays Ordinance, 1912. [17th January, 1941.]" 
2. "3. Section 3 of the Holidays Ordinance, 1912, is amended by the repeal of paragraph (12) thereof and by the substitution therefore of the following paragraph: - (12) Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Day, or if that day should be a Sunday then the following day;"
3. "Passed the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, this 16th day of January, 1941."
4. Objects and Reasons: "The amendment proposed in clause 3 of the Bill is the abolition of the General holiday on the first Monday in September and the substitution therefor of a General holiday on the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival day, or if that day should be a Sunday then the following day."

Industrial Employment (Holidays with Pay and Sickness Allowance) Bill 1961

1. Title of Ordinance: Employment Ordinance
2. Proposed by: Colonial Secretary
3. Gazette date of Bill (Contents of the Bill): 1 December 1961
4. Gazette date of Ordinance: 29 December 1961 (Ord. No. 53 of 1961)
5. Date of First Reading of Bill: 29 November 1961
6. "He [Colonial Secretary] said: This Bill, Sir, breaks new ground in the field of labour legislation. It provides that six holidays a year must be given to all workers employed in industrial undertakings. These six holidays must be granted with full pay in the case of a wide range of workers who satisfy certain qualifying conditions. In addition, such workers are entitled to sickness allowances at half-pay up to twelve days each year. The range embraces non-manual industrial workers earning not more than $700 a month, and all manual industrial workers (including men, women, and young persons) whether they are engaged by the day or for longer periods. To qualify for benefits a worker must have worked for an employer both for not less than 180 days out of the twelve months, and for 20 out of 28 days immediately preceding a statutory holiday or the day on which the worker falls sick.
7. Over 300,000 local workers will be affected by this legislation and, taking into account dependants, well over a million people should benefit directly or indirectly by this Bill."
8. "The Bill goes a considerable way towards meeting the provisions of an International Labour Convention on holidays with pay which does not at present apply to Hong Kong. This Convention calls for annual holidays with pay of six working days. The Bill now before Council selects six days associated with traditional Chinese holidays on which a worker may be granted a holiday with pay. Workers are not obliged to take these holidays, but they will, if qualified, be entitled to the holiday pay" 
9. Objects and Reasons: "Employers will be required to grant six holidays each year to all their workers. Subject to certain other provisions of the Bill that are mentioned hereafter, the holidays, which are designated "statutory holidays", are to be granted on Chinese New Year's Day, the day of the Tsing Ming Festival, the day of the Dragon Boat Festival and the day of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and, at the option of the employer, on the day preceding or the day following Chinese New Year's Day and on the day of the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival or the first day of January next following that day (clause 5(1) and (2))."

Holidays (Amendment) Bill 1967

1. Title of Ordinance: General Holidays Ordinance
2. Proposed by: Secretary for Chinese Affairs
3. Gazette date of Bill (Contents of the Bill): 3 March 1967
4. Gazette date of Ordinance: 17 March 1967 (Ord. No. 19 of 1967)
5. Date of First Reading of Bill: 1 March 1967
6. "Sir, the reason why these changes are put forward is that we believe the new arrangements will conform more closely with actual practice in Hong Kong society, and with popular sentiment, than do the present arrangements."
7. "Four new general holidays are proposed; those are days which have for long been celebrated here as important traditional festivals, or popular holiday occasions, and they are as follows:— 
8. The third day of the lunar year, (年初三); the Tuen Ng(端午) or Dragon Boat Festival; and the Ching Ming (清明) and Chung Yeung (重陽) festivals, which are respectively the spring and autumn grave-tending festivals. 
9. By way of compensation it is proposed to delete three days from the present list of general holidays, as follows:— 
10. Whit Monday, the third Monday in October and the day after Remembrance Sunday. 
11. Thus the net effect on the number of holidays will be to increase the total number of week-day general holidays by one, that is from 16 to 17 a year.
12. In addition, the Bill proposes that the holiday appointed in connexion with the Mid-autumn Festival (中秋) should in future fall on the day after the festival instead of on the day of the festival itself as at present. This is thought desirable because of the nature of the festivities and observances traditionally associated with this occasion. Finally, Sir, the Bill seeks to provide that Liberation Day, which at present falls on the fixed date of 30th August, should instead be the last Monday in August in order to form a long week-end.
13. Sir, these changes are proposed after consultations with both religious and secular bodies and after extensive investigation into the views of the public at large on these matters. The Bill was published for general information some four weeks ago, and there seems every reason to suppose that the changes it seeks to make will be generally welcomed."

Holidays (Amendment) Bill 1968 / Industrial Employment (Holidays with Pay and Sickness Allowance) (Amendment) Bill 1968

1. Proposed by: Commissioner of Labour
2. Gazette date of Bill (Contents of the Bill): 11 April 1968
3. Gazette date of Ordinance: 24 May 1968 (Ord. No. 22 of 1968)
4. Date of First Reading of Bill: 10 April 1968
5. "One significant change which will occur as a result of this amendment is to introduce an industrial holiday on the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival instead of the day of the festival itself. The nature of the traditional celebrations at that time is such that the day following the celebrations is a more suitable time for a holiday than the day before."
6. Objects and Reasons: "The purpose of the Bill is to make the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Day a statutory holiday in lieu of the day of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival..."

(to be continued: next SCMP if any relevant sources)