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CONFIDENTIAL Reference
9
Mr Laird
Hong Kong and Indian Ocean Department.
APPOINTMENTS TO HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Your request for research.
1. In the short time available before the date by which you require this information, I have done only a limited amount of research into past papers. I have consulted Colonial Office and other records of the 19th century, and the weight of the evidence, with one exception, definitely supports the opinion of Mr Denys Roberts (quoted by Sir Murray MacLehose in his letter to you of 2 June, p.2), that there is no foundation in law for the practice of calling for nominations to the Legislative Council from the JPs and the Chamber of Commerce.
2. The intention of the Governor, Sir George Bowen, in putting this system into effect in Hong Kong in 1883-4 was to give Hong Kong a semblance of "popular election" without the disadvantages which were usually held to accompany it; in doing this he was following the earlier precedents of Ceylon and Mauritius. He told the Chamber of Commerce on 11 May 1883: "I have satisfied myself that the present constitution of the Legislative Council of this Colony is wholly inadequate" and stated that the unofficial element should be increased from 4 members to 6 and the Cevlon system applied, by which "two of those six members should be, as a general rule, appointed on the recommendation of the Chamber of Commerce, and one or more at least on the recommendation of some other public body, such as the...JPs". But, as he told the Secretary of State, Lord Derby, in his despatch to him of 14 May 1883 (Co 129/209), "of course, the final appointment would continue, in every case, to rest absolutely with the Governor, subject to the approval of the Crown"
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3. The proposal had a mixed reception at the Colonial Office, where one official described it as "rubbish". "The place", he said "is so small that the Chamber of Commerce consisting of all nationalities is not a very important body and their recommendation would probably be caucused by the Chairman and one or two more. Governor must be responsible for recommending anyone as a member of Council and this bastard sort of election principle would relieve him of it." However, the scheme was in the end accepted; the Colonial Office fully understood that the system was not designed to give the Chamber of Commerce or the JPs "an absolute right of nomination"; that, as an official noted, "remains with the Governor, who can refuse the nominee".
This seems
to be the essence of the matter. The practice of appointing to the Legislative Council of a colony of this kind (i.e. a Crown Colony) individuals recommended or nominated by some such official body was not unusual. But what vested the individual so selected with his status was the Governor's (and ultimately the Crown's) appointment, and not the selection by the
CONFIDENTIAL
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