4th On
in his Annual
to Address
the
The Governor
October 1984,
Legislative Council, the Governor acknowledged that the response
of the Hong Kong public to the Green Paper "demonstrates that many people in Hong Kong are keenly interested in the development
of a
more representative system of Government".
homed in on the issue of direct elections to the Legislative
Council by reiterating that "the time for direct elections may
come". After advocating a cautious approach by noting that
"there has been little support in public comment Paper in Hong Kong for any move in this direction in 1985", the
Governor went out of his way to stress that such an observation
would by no means ossify political development by emphasising
that some opinion has been expressed suggesting that Hong Kong
"should move to direct elections by 1988".
on the Green
On 25th October 1984 Sir Geoffrey Howe reported on the
draft Agreement in Commons and said that "Her Majesty's
the Agreement is a good one. They
to the people of
Hong Kong
Government believe
that
strongly
recommend
it
Parliament."
and
to
In answer to Mr. Russell Johnston's question whether
he had "encountered any objection from the People's Republic to
the development by the United Kingdom over the next 13 years of
directly elected institutions in Hong Kong", Sir
Geoffrey
dovetailed the Green Paper proposals with those made in the draft
Agreement by saying:
"The agreement provides for the Legislature of Hong
Kong in the future to be on an elective basis and for
the Executive to be accountable
to
that legislature.
The Hong Kong Government have published a Green Paper
5