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halves, one of which today is really not of great relevance. The watershed provided by the war, and the change in Hong Kong's fortunes as a result of the establishment of a strong and Communist Government in China, the independence of most other former colonial territories in Asia and the incipient industrialization of all of them put post-1949 Hong Kong into a totally different category from the quiet backwater which it occupied before.
So much has changed that the early history of the Colony sheds little light on its development today, and it remains only of academic significance, particularly in connection with the expansion of Western interests in China. An account of Hong Kong's growth in the last fifteen years, however, does go some way towards explaining what is a unique political and economic phenomenon and one which is too much overlooked by the outside world. It is the chapters which deal with the post-war years and look to the future which are the most thought-provoking in the book, for they discuss questions and problems to which there are many answers and varying solutions. These speculations are more stimulating than the carefully documented facts about, for example, the evolution of Hong Kong's Sanitary Board; and the summing up of how today's Government actually functions has more relevance than the picturesque disputes between early officials.
The success of the present Administration — “government by discussion", Mr. Endacott calls it — is certainly peculiar and deserves examination. In this most uncolonial age, Hong Kong's Colonial Government has grown and prospered. Of the Legislative Council, Executive Council and Urban Council, only the last named has any elected members, and the number of electors is minute compared to the population (and, it may be added, a very small percentage of those entitled to vote actually do so). Mr. Endacott adduces a good deal of evidence that public opinion, while having little constitutional voice, is very carefully ascertained and considered before a new policy is embarked upon, and given the lack of unrest here, it must be conceded that Government seldom if ever inflicts a truly unpopular policy on the people. The press, and the various sections of the populace which have an articulate voice are given considerable attention, and the members of the Urban Council are apt to bring well into the
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