2.
Tuar thore
is no legal
Aliyeti
maintain
jord
ate
5. On 7 August 1883, Derby informed the Governor
that he would agree to the number of unofficials being
increased to 5, one of them Chinese; with this smaller
increase, the Chamber of Commerce was to nominate only
one member. The JPS would also nominate one member.
On 2 November 1883, the Governor proposed this change
to the Legislative Council, stating that "as a
general rule" 2 of the 5 unofficials would be nominated
by the Chamber of Commerce and JPS. At the beginning
Murra
of the following year, the system went into effect.
There is one problem in this connection, ¤¤¤¤±ƒxthai
**x¤¤¤¤¤¤ The letter from the Colonial Secretary to
1883
the Senior Police Magistrate of 20 December, enclosed
with your letter of 2 June, mentions an Order in Council
for the reconstitution of the Legislative Council.
We have been unable to find any trace of one. However,
Additional Instructions were issued on 8 December 1883
authorising the appointment of 5 unofficials and it is
possible that these Instructions were in fact the "Order"
referred to by the Colonial Secretary. They make no
mention of nomination by JPs or the Chamber of Commerce.
6. The general conclusion is thus that the practice was hever enshrined in the consitution of Hong Kong and was
simply a convention. The term "privilege" which is being sed by the interested parties is rather a loose one and
has no technical significance.
Thexaxxex^£xtke
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
to
it
misleading description as a prívilaga seems, indeed,
dobe Vor be the lettere exchanged in Hong Kong in December
1885
/I am