i) the appointed members of Urbco should be
phased-out gradually
ii)
Hong Kong's franchise should be extended iii) Legco should consist of 1/3 directly elected
members, 1/3 indirectly elected, and 1/3 appointed (as is the practice in Macau).
In his reply, Lord Goronwy-Roberts emphasised that we keep the administration of Hong Kong under constant review and are always willing to introduce changes which are of undoubted benefit to the whole population of the Colony. However, the Minister of State pointed out that all proposed changes have to be weighed against the possibility of jeopardising Hong Kong's stability and prosperity.
C.
Report on Hong Kong's Prisons
In May this year, Mrs Elsie Elliot and Mr Sanguinetti (a Hong Kong barrister) produced a report on the Colony's prisons in which they were generally "impressed with the high standard of the prisons". However, the report did criticise police procedure (eg methods used to obtain confessions and "frame-ups"), the Legal System (eg pressure to plead guilty and the lack of legal aid in Magistrate's Courts), and the Legal Profession (eg over-charging). Not surprisingly, the media played up the criticisms of the system contained in the report, in particular the accusation of "frame-ups", and the report received considerable coverage in the Colony's newspapers.
The Governor received a copy of this report and sent Mrs Elliot an interim reply asking her for details of eg prisoners who claimed to have been framed; but, as far as we know, nothing more has come of the report and public interest seems to have died down. The Governor has not sent us, as yet, a draft reply to Mrs Elliot which he promised to do in May this year.