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any way representative of anyone other than the westernised middle
class and that they are, if anything, drawn from an even narrower field than are the members of the Executive and Legislative Councils. Nor has he a high opinion of the present elected members of the
Urban Council.
7. I would not wish to quarrel with any of the principles set out in paragraph 4 above, although I have some reservations about the Governor's argument against the payment of unofficial members. Nevertheless, on the information I have acquired since joining Hong Kong Department I consider change is needed in the membership of the central councils of government; and that change is required not so much in the spheres of activity and know-how represented by that membership as in the attitudes and values of those appointed.
They should be people who fulfil the principles set out by the Governor; but equally they should be persons of independent thought and approach who do not come from the same "stable" as those whose main aim (either from motives of self-interest or from a rigid and traditional dislike of change simply because it is change) is to preserve the status quo in the present "mandarin" form of government (although I have no doubt that there are many who sincerely believe that the maintenance of the status quo is in the best interests of the Colony itself). In this manner, the existing "rubber stamp" image of the Councils (and more especially that of the Legislative Council) could perhaps be changed; and the general public brought to a better realisation of their opportunity to participate to a greater degree in the conduct of the Colony's affairs.
8.
It may be that Hong Kong's geopolitical situation and the likeli- hood that the Colony's existence as a separate entity under British
administration is limited to less than another three decades, has stifled the development of any "Hong Kong" spirit amongst its indigenous inhabitants; and that, as a result, the poorer section of the community regard Hong Kong as no more than a place which offers them, temporarily, a less beggarly form of existence than they
would suffer in China; whilst the more affluent ones look upon it simply as a place with a stable and impartial administration which interferes as little as possible in their efforts to make the maximum
amount of money in the shortest space of time. On the other hand, I find it difficult to accept that in a territory with Hong Kong's
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ingenuity
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