There have been three contested elections since the return of the civil Government in Hong Kong after the recent War. In the second election held in 1956, Mr. Dhun Ruttonjee ran against Mr. (later Sir Kenneth) Fung Ping-Fan, and Mr. Ruttonjee secured the seat by ten votes.
The next election took place on May 6th 1968. It was thought that Mr. H J.C. Browne would be returned unopposed, and he had received the support of the outgoing Member, Mr. Dickson-Leach, who later wrote a letter to all J P.'s urging them to vote on his behalf, UMELCO were unaware of the possibility that 'mother candidate might be nominated, and promised their support to Mr Browne. At the annual J P. cocktail party (which I did not attend), Mr. Dickson-Leach also secured assurances of support for Mr. Browne from most of those who attended. All this occurred before any official announcement had been made that an election would take place
Later on,
I was approached by some of my legal colleagues and asked whether I would stand. I agreed to do so if I could obtain a sufficient measure of support, and my candidature was endorsed by the 59 J P.'s whose nmes appear on the photocopy nomination which I enclose. In the event, Mr Browne won the seat by a majority of 27 votes. This was a satisfactory, but not overwhelming majority, having regard to the high turn-out of the 250 J.P.'s on the roster. It also illustrated the extent of interest that the JP's had in the exercise of this long-standing privilege.
As examination of the list of J.P.'s vill show that the overwhelming majority are Chinese, and most of
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