CONFIDENTIAL #2
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and the proposal that the Public
Accounts Committee should hold
its hearings in public in
future, make it timely for the
position as regards the calling
of witnesses and the hearing of
evidence to be codified.
7.
The considerations noted in 1970, that to
confer special privileges on Members of the legislature
might invite public criticism, do not seem to have the
same force now as then. With the appointment of elected
members from District Boards and the Urban Council, and
the prospect of further changes in the composition of
the Council as it moves towards an elective system, any
connotations which the Council might once have had of
being a privileged elite are fading. Instead the
introduction of such measures should be
seen by the
public as a necessary part of Hong Kong's constitutional
development, and an earnest of the intention to
establish a strong and independent legislature for the
CONFIDENTIAL #2