423
No. 26
96.
Enclosure 1.
Enclosure 2.
Enclosure 3.
Enclosure 4.
His Lordship
HONGKONG.
PAPERS ON THE SUBJECT OF A PETITION ADDRESSED TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS PRAYING FOR AN AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
OF THE CROWN COLONY OF HONGKONG.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.
No: 133.
(Despatch from the Governor to the Secretary of State.)
MY LORD MARQUESS,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 5th June, 1894.
I have the honour to-transmit to you a Petition which has been forwarded to me by the Honourable T. H. WHITEHEAD and which is addressed to the House of Commons and prays for an amendment of the constitution of the Crown Colony of Hongkong,
I have recently granted Mr. WHITEHEAD Six months' leave of absence from the Legislative Council, and he is not only the prime mover in this Petition but the bearer of it to England. I think I am justified in saying that it owes its origin principally to the imposition upon the taxpayers, some three years ago, of the additional Military Contribution of £20,000 a year.
I enclose for your Lordship's consideration a report on this document by Mr. J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, the Acting Colonial Secretary, and also communi- cations from the Honourable J. J. KESWICK, M.L.C., Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Honourable E. R. BELILIOS, M.L.C., C.M.G., in which these gentlemen express their decided opinion that the prayer of the Petition should not be granted.
These papers will be of material assistance in enabling your Lordship to arrive at a decision upon the subject.
The second clause of the Petition seems to me to supply an answer to the several requests of the Petitioners.
It is impossible that Hongkong can have been otherwise than well governed if it has risen to the prosperous condition which the Petitioners claim for it, and that it has reached that pitch of prosperity under the "Crown Colony Systein" is indisputable.
I concur generally in the criticisins of Mr. STEWART LOCKHART. I believe that the Chinese, who are indifferently represented, and the Portuguese, who are not repre- sented at all, if a plebiscite could be taken, would be in favour of a pure autocracy; the Americans need not be counted, and the "Britishers" with the exception of a few "unquiet spirits" would be satisfied to let matters remain as they are. That they are capable of improvement nevertheless, so far as Municipal” questions are concerned, I admit. During twenty years, however, of Colonial Government, I have not yet been fortunate enough to come in contact with a Mayor and Council, excepting that perhaps of the comparatively small town of San Fernando in
THE MARQUESS OF RIPON,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&c.,
&c.,
&C., Downing Street,
London.