Church (louse,
114
2
June, 1967.
The Prime Minister has passed on to the Commonwealth Secretary (following your meeting with him last week) your suggestion about the possibility of introducing an indirect system of election linked
with the desirability of identifying many influential long Kong Chinese with the Government of the Colony. In Bert Bowden's absence in Canada I have bren
looking into this suggestion.
I think you probably have in mind the
arrangements which existed in North Borneo and Sarawak. So far as I am aware, Singapore, which I gather you thought was the model, has had, a normal electoral
system in existence for many years. In North Borneo until the elections, which were held this year, the arrangements were that elections were held for district councils and when these had been completed, the district councils themselves then elected one or two representatives, according to their size, to the Legislative Council. A
similar system is in existence in Sarawak.
For a similar system to be introduced in long
Kong it will be necessary first to establish local councils. As i said in the ilouse yesterday in reply to your supplementary question, the report of the working party on local administration in Hong Kong is at present being discussed in the territory. Once local councils have been established there and are operating satisfactorily, it might be possible to use them as electoral colleges
/sending
THE RT. HƠN. JEREMY THORPE, M.P.
NEA
15
REF.