THE
Hongkong
Government
GAZETTE.
NEW SERIES.
VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 11TH DECEMBER, 1858.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
VOL. IV. No. 186.
The Contract for publishing this Gazette, entered into on the 24th September, 1853, was terminated on the 30th ultimo; and notice is hereby given, that a NEW SERIES of this Gazette will be published hereafter, to commence from the 7th instant, under a New Contract, and that
"THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE”
will, as before, be the only Official Organ for PaOCLAMATIONS, NOTIPICATIONS, and PUBLIC PAPERS, of this Government.
By Order,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Victoria, Hongkong, 2d July, 1855.
W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
OF HONGKONG.
No. 26 of 1858.
SATURDAY, 4th DECEMBER, 1858.
THE HONOURABLE THE ACTING Governor PresiDING, AND ALL THE MEMBERS Present, EXCEPT THE CHIEF JUSTICE, absent on JUDICIAL BUSINESS.
The Meeting of the Council which stood adjourned to Tuesday, the 16th November last, having been postponed »
till further notice, by order of His Excellency The Governor, the Council met to-day by Special Summons. The Minutes of the Council held on the 1st November, were read and approved.
Mr Lyall moved, pursuant to Notice, that the Protest of the unofficial Members of the Legislative Council, against the appointment of the Auditor General to a seat in the Council, which has been forwarded to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, be read and recorded on the Minutes of the said Council.
Question put and passed ;—whereupon, Mr Lyall read the following Protest,-
"We, the undersigned unofficial Members of the Legislative Council of Hongkong, desire to record our protest against the addition by His Excellency Sir John Bowring, of another Official Member to the Legislative Council, by his unexpected nomination of the Auditor General. Personally we can have no objection to the gentleman so appointed, whose abilities and official position might give him a fair claim to a seat in the Council whenever a vacancy occurs by any one of those Officers, whose functions do not necessarily demand their presence in Council.
*
"The grounds of our objection are, that, in contravention of what was understood to be a settled limitation of the number of the Legislative Councillors at the re-organisation of the Council in 1857, Sir John Bowring has since caused to be added two Official Members to a body, in which the official seats were already twice the number of the non-official ones. This disproportion is now increased to Eight against Three, and what consequently might be considered as to a certain extent the exposition of the opinions and wishes of this wealthy and influential Community, is altogether lost by this preponderance.
"The history of the Legislative Council will render it apparent, that it is not without strong reasons the undersigned feel com- - pelled to intervene in this matter. Originally it consisted solely of the Governor and three or four Officers of the local As this community increased in importance, it was deemed advisable to add two un-official Members as the exponents of the wishes of government. the Community, and the Counsellors of the Governor in Commercial and Local matters. On Sir John Bowring becoming Governor, the Legislative Council was presided over by the Lieutenant-Governor, and consisted of Six Members, four Officials including the President, and two Non-officials. In 1855 a proposition was submitted to Mr Secretary Labouchere, for enlarging the basis of the Legislative Council, and introducing to it four additional Official and three Non-official Members, giving a total of thirteen Members exclusive of the Governor. Mr Labouchere disapproved of so great an enlargement, but sanctioned a moderate addition, which was given effect to by the introduction of the Colonial Treasurer, the Chief Magistrate, and one of ourselves, the relative proportions being thus preserved the Council then consisting of six Officers of Government, and three Members of the Community.
"Sir John Bowring has, however, since deemed it necessary to introduce the Surveyor General, (we believe by orders from home,) and the Auditor General to the Council, and has thus arrived at the number of Official Members, Eight-proposed by him, and dis approved of by Mr Labouchere, whereas the Non-official element during the same period has been increased by only one.
"do not, in thus protesting, wish to arrogate to ourselves any right to interfere with the exercise of the functions of the office of Govery, but we deem it absolutely necessary that the decision of the Imperial Government as to the extent to which the Governor can increase the official seats in the Legislative Council be distinctly made known. There are now eight such, and as there may possibly be more before the close of another year, it is our deliberate conviction, that it would be infinitely preferable there were no Non- official Members, than that they should continue as at present component parts of a Council so constituted.
"We respectfully submit to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the following as the only practical solution of the difficulty caused by His Excellency the Governor: Either the nomination of the Auditor General should remain in abeyance, until the original number of six Official Members be returned to, by vacancies occurring; or the original proposition of Sir John Bowring as to the number of Non-official Members should also be carried out.
(Signed,),
“J. JARDINE.” “G. LYALL.” J. DENT."
"Hongkong, 20th November, 1858.”