602
No. 150.
(Governor to the Secretary of Stute.)
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
SIR.
HONGKONG, 30th June, 1896.
I regret that I have once more to refer to you the question of the constitution of the Sanitary Board.
2. From my previous despatches on this subject noted in the margin* you will have gathered that I am strongly in favour of undivided responsibility in sanitary matters. With this object in view I recommended, in the first instance, that the Sanitary Board as at present constituted should be abolished and that the control of sanitary matters. should be placed entirely under the control of Government. Afterwards, however, I informed you in my despatch No. 337 of 2nd December, 1895, that I was willing, in deference to the views of the majority of the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council, to accept a compromise, according to which the Board would be constituted of 3 official and 2 unofficial members, tliough I was not satisfied that undivided responsibility would be secured under such an arrangement. The adoption of the proposed compromise having been sanctioned by you, an Ordinance embodying it was introduced into the Legislative Council. Before, however, it was read a first time it became evident that it would not prove acceptable to a portion of the British residents of this Colony. In order to ascer- tain what might be the views of the British community, I suggested that a plebiscite should be taken. Arrangements were accordingly made, and a plebis- cite of the British community, exclusive of members of the Imperial and Civil Services, was held, the question submitted to the voters being whether the Sanitary Board should consist of a majority of officials or of unofficials. The result of the plebiscite was that 331 voted for an unofficial majority and 31 for an official majority. Among the former only three or four Chinese voted and among the latter none.
3. From this plebiscitum it appears that 331 British residents are in favour of a Board which should be controlled by unofficial members.
4. In view of my previously expressed opinion on the importance of undivided responsibility in sanitary matters, it is hardly necessary for me to state that I am not in favour of a Board, the responsibility of which will be divided and which will exercise its functions independently of Government control. Judging from the working of the present Board, which consists of an official and unofficial element, the latter of which preponderated, I consider that a mixed constitution, such as is now provided for, does not work well in practice and leads to constant friction. In fact, this seems to be not infrequently the result of attempts to graft on a Crown Colony constitution popular institutions, which do not appear suited to work smoothly or successfully under such conditions.
5. After carefully considering the question of the constitution of the Sanitary Board, I am of opinion that in order to secure undivided responsibility the sanitary affairs of the Colony should either be placed directly under Government control or should be entrusted to a Board composed entirely of unofficials.
6. In view of the peculiar circumstances of Hongkong and of the fact that the population is chiefly made up of Chinese, who will be more easily and more. effectively dealt with by Government than by a popularly constituted Board, I am in favour of sanitary affairs being placed directly under Government control and managed entirely by a Government department responsible to the Governor.
7. The alternative--a Board composed entirely of unofficials-would not, I fear, work well in this Colony, which, as Lord Ruros has pointed out, has become
* No. 16B of the 18th May, 1895,
So. 37 of the 2nd December, 1895.