CONFIDENTIAL
member even if the movement could
produce a suitable candidate. Neverthe-
less, if the practice of paying
Legislative Council members were adopted
(see (a) below) there might well be
greater scope for extending the basis of
selection to fields such as those
mentioned above.
(a) Unofficial Members of the Executive and
Legislative Councils have never been paid
for their services as such: and in the
view of the Governor the introduction of
such a system would tend to cause people
to doubt whether they were disinterested.
However, this argument does not appear to
be wholly conclusive and it is open to
question whether the present membership
of the two Councils is in fact wholly
It is also for
disinterested.
consideration whether the advantages
which might be derived from such a
system would not outweigh its
disadvantages.
It is difficult to
accept that in a community such as that
of Hong Kong there does not exist a
sufficient number of people of integrity,
ability and independent outlook to
provide a greater field of selection for
appointment to the Legislative Council
than has hitherto been tapped.
8
CONFIDENTIAL
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN