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By Enter & pa
VISIT OF PERMANENT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY, TO HONG KONG
HONG KONG:
POLITICAL BACKGROUND
THE CONSTITUTION
Status
1.
Hong Kong is a colony consisting of three areas:
(a) Hong Kong Island, which China ceded to Britain in perpetuity in 1852 by the Treaty of Nanking.
(b) Kowloon and Stonecutters Islands which were
similarly ceded in 1860 by the first Convention of Peking.
(c) The New Territories which China leased to Britain
for 99 years in 1898 by the Second Convention of Peking.
The Formal Constitution
2. As a colony, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is directly responsible to Parliament
for the government of Hong Kong. The Constitution is contained in the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions.
The se
3. Under the Constitution, the Governor has wide powers. include the power to make laws (called Ordinances in Hong Kong) for the "peace, order and good government of the colony". The Crown reserves the power of disallowance in respect of all Ordinances enacted in Hong Kong and to legislate for the colony by Order-in-Council. In practice, no post-war British Government has exercised the power to legislate for Hong Kong.
4. The Governor is advised by an Executive Council (known as ExCo) of 14 members comprising five ex-officio members and nine others who may be either official (ie a member of the Hong Kong Government)
or unofficial. The ex-officio members are:
Commander of the British Forces
Chief Secretary
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Attorney-General
Secretary for Home Affairs
Financial Secretary
At present there is one other official member the Director of Medical and Health Services - and eight other unofficial members, all of whom are appointed by the Governor on instructions of the Secretary of State for terms of 5 years. The Governor is constitutionally required to consult the Executive Council except
on matters he considers too unimportant or too urgent to warrant obtaining their advice. He may act in opposition to the advice given by the Executive Council, but if he does so he must report the grounds and the reasons for his action to HMG.
5. The Governor legislates with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council (known as LegCo). Until recently this consisted of 30 members comprising the Governor, 4 ex-officio members, 10 other officials and 15 unofficials. The Governor had both an original and casting vote which gave an official majority. Recently the Council has been expanded and now consists of the Governor, 18 officials and 22 unofficials, so that there is, in effect, an unofficial majority. However, the Governor has not, for many years, sought to override the views of the Legislative Council by using the official majority and should the need for an official majority arise he can appoint, on instructions from the Secretary of State, extra officials to the Council.
The Informal Arrangements
6. The Unofficial Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils form a coherent (though not constitutionally recognised) body known a: UMELCO, which sees itself as the "popular" representative of the Hong kong interest. The functions of UMELCO are more akin to those of Ministers than Backbenchers although the analogy cannot be tal en too far. They work very closely with senior officials in the preparation of legislation and over a wide field of
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administrative activity and policy formation. UMELCO also runs an ombudsman-type office.
7.
The degree to which the members of UMELCO are representative of the people of Hong Kong is disputable. As they are appointed and not elected, their authority derives from their professional expertise, business capacity, knowledge of English and the ability to command the respect of some section of the public. In practice this has in the past restricted candidates to those who have come to notice through the time and effort they have devoted to public and charitable work. This in turn has meant that they have
generally been rich members of the financial or commercial establish- ment. The composition of the Legislative Council has been the source of criticism. New appointments to the Council, to ensure that the views of all sections of the community in Hong Kong are better represented, were announced in Hong Kong at the end of August last
year.
8. The Governor is aware of the limitations of the Legislative Council as a means of keeping in touch with public opinion and has
devised a number of methods to overcome this weakness. Besides the
Urban Council, a semi-elected body responsible mainly for certain public health matters and the provision of parks and amenities, there are also a large number of unofficial advisory committees and local community organisations have been developed to provide a bridge between the Government and the public. City District Officers government officers stationed in various parts of Hong Kong provide a further channel of communication.
THE HONG KONG/UK RELATIONSHIP
9. In practice the colony enjoys a considerable degree of
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autonomy in the management of its affairs, particularly in the commercial financial and economic sectors. At the same time, dependence on
Britain is accepted. They realise that without the British connection the colony in its present form would cease to exist. It is grudgingly acknowledged that where UK interests are involved the
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