CONFIDENTIAL
CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
1.
At present there are no elected Members in Hong Kong's Legislative or Executive Councils.
2.
The Executive Council consists of 5 ex-Officio, 1 Official and 8 Nominated Unofficial Members. The Governor is required to consult the Executive Council save where matters are unimportant
or too urgent. He may act contrary to the advice given by the Council but any such cases must be reported to the Secretary of
State.
The
3. The Legislative Council consists of 4 ex-Officio, 10 Official and 15 Unofficial Members (all nominated).
also Governor, as President of the Council, has an original and a casting vote.
4. The power to legislate rests with the Governor "by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council". The Crown however reserves the power of disallowance and the power to legislate by Order in Council for the peace, order and good government of the Colony.
5.
This is a primitive colonial constitution which leaves
all constitutional power in the hands of the Governor and hence
of the Secretary of State. The normal pattern of constitutional development is to introduce elections for the Unofficial Members of Legislative Council, who are then subsequently made the majority. The reason why this has not happened in Hong Kong is because the Chinese have made it clear that they will not countenance moves towards independence. They regard Hong Kong as an integral part of Chinese territory, temporarily administered by Britain. They are content with the status quo and see no present need to change it. But they would resist any changes which put constitutional power in local hands.
CONFIDENTIAL
16.