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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
the 13th ult. and dated 14th idem be referred back | to the Committee for amendment." A motion made by the Hon. Colonial Treasurer and second- ed by the hon. member opposite (Mr. Belilios) is omitted from the minutes of that meeting, and in support of the motion I have just read I will read the following correspondence which has taken place between the Hon. the Director of Public Works and myself :-
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you speak of, and if you are not mistaken; it is a pity you did not at our meeting see that it was recorded.
I recollect a short discussion on the subject as to whether your protest was in order, which ended in my ruling that it was.
1 can therefore move no amendment to our report, but it is open, I presume, for you to do so, and possibly my recollection may be at fault.
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[February 26, 1898: debates therein, and its reports, and recommen- dations are generally adopted by the Council as a matter of course. If your view of the Public Works Committee is correct I think the sooner it is abolished the better.
It somehow or other did occur to me that the Treasurer's extraordinary motion in re my pro- test might chance to be omitted from the minutes of our meeting of 13th alto., hence my Hongkong, 8th February, 1898.
letter of 20th idem to Mr. Chater before lear Dear Mr. Ormsby,-With reference to the I think you mistook and still mistake ouring for the West River, a copy of which is report of proceedings of the Public position as a Committee on this occasion. A embodied in mine to you yesterday.-Yours Works Committee held on 13th ulto, which proposal regarding the Government offices was
very truly, I observe from the agenda will come before laid by me before His Excellency the Governor.
T. H. WHITEHEAD.. the meeting of the Legislative Council called He, not the Legislative Council, wished for the The Hon. R. D. Ormsby, Director of Public for 10th inst., will you allow me to draw your opinions of the members of the Public Works Works, and Chairman of Public Works attention to the fact that the report is incom-Committee on that proposal, and he got them, Committeé. plete as it now stands inasmuch as it omits any being at the same time reminded of the fact,
February 15th, 1898. mention of the motion made by the Honourable known to him and everybody else in the colony, Dear Mr. Whitehead, I am in receipt of the Colonial Treasurer at the said meeting that The Hon. Mr. Belilios was the owner of your second letter dated the 9th inst. regard that my protest against the Hon. E. R. Belilios Beaconsfield. No doubt the whole matter in ing the last meeting of the Public Works Com- voting on the question, he being directly all its bearings will be fullp discussed to-morrow. mittee and your protest. pecuniarily interested therein, be not reported-Yours very truly, on the minutes of the said meeting, which motion was duly seconded by the Hon. E. R. Belilios. I would suggest your having the report amended previous to its being brought | before the Council meeting called for 10th inst., but if that cannot be done, the report having already been laid on the table, would you your self move on Thursday that it be referred back to the Committee to permit of the necessary amend- ment being made. This would be preferable to my having to do so, and I feel bound to bring the question before the Council.
For your information and to explain why no motion was made at last meeting of Council I beg to say that I wrote to the senior unofficial member on 20th ult. as follows :—
"Not having had two consecutive days respite from business since last Chinese New Year and as our markets will be more or less at a standstill next week I leave to-night for the West River and will probably not return until 29th inst. Should there be a meeting of Council during that period no doubt the report of the Public Works Committee will be laid on the table. You will remember that at said meeting The Honourable The Treasurer moved and Mr. Belilios seconded the motion that my protest against the latter being per- mitted to vote on the question of the Go- vernment purchase of Beaconsfield (Mr. Belilios being the owner of said property and consequently directly and pecuniarily in- terested) be not recorded on the minutes or in the report of the said meeting. Should that motion be omitted from the repart I would. if present in Council, rise and move that it be referred back to the
Public Works Committee for correction. The motion in question was a very extra- ordinary one and I am still unable to com. prehend the unwarrantable action of the Honourable Treasurer. It looked like an endeavour on the part of an official member to stifle discussion and to throttle and suppress the views and the opinions of an unofficial member on an important ques- tion of principle. It is necessary in the pub lic interests that such a proceeding should be brought to the notice of the Council and the public, whom we endeavour to represent. If the report should be brought before the Council and should it be incomplete will you in my name do as I have herein suggested. For your information I enclose a press copy of my protest and letter to Mr. Ormsby, the Chairman of the Committee, dated 13th inst."
As, at last meeting of Council held on 25th alto. during my absence from the colony when the report in question was laid before the Legis- lative Council together with further papers respecting the proposed Government offices, the adoption of it was not moved, Mr. Chater con- sidered it unnecessary to then take a tion regard ing the omission herein referred to.
Yours very truly,
T. H. WHITEHEAD.
The Hon: R. D. Ormaby, Director of Public Works and Chairman of Public Works Gommittee.
Hongkong, February 9th, 1898. Dear Mr. Whitehead,I have no recollection of a motion having been made by The Honour- able-The Treasurer and duly seconded, such as
(Signed) R. D. ORMSBY, Hongkong, 9th February, 1898. Dear Mr. Ormsby,-I duly received your let- ter of to-day in reply to mine of yesterday, from which I was much surprised to learn that you have no recollection of the Honourable the Trea- surer's motion, seconded by Mr. Belilios, that my protest, and views be not recorded on the minutes or in the report of the meeting of the Public Works Committee bold on 13th ulto, that you can therefore move, no amendment to the report, and you add that if I am not mis. taken it is a pity I did not at the meeting see that the said motion was recorded. Permit me to remind you on the latter point that it was your duty and not mine to see that the said motion, and one of no small importance, was duly recorded. As to its having been made there is no doubt whatever and let me briefly repeat what occurred.
So soon as Mr. Belilios seconded the Trea- surer's motion that your scheme for new Go- verument offices be adopted, I protested against your allowing Mr. Belilios to vote he being di- rectly pecuniarily interested in the question be- fore the meeting as he is the owner and seller of Beaconsfield, the purchase of which was in cluded in your scheme. Notwithstanding my objection you allowed, I still think vingly, Mr. Belilios to vote, and by means of his vote the Treasurer's motion was carried by a majority of one vote. I thereupon gave notice of my protest, which I wished recorded in the minutes and report of the meeting, as a member voting on a question in which he was directly pecuni- arily interested is contrary to the practice of the House of Commons and May's Parliamen. tary Practice. The Treasurer then called for my authority and moved that my protest be not corded on the minutes and be not forwarded to Government, which motion was seconded by Mr. Belilios. You then asked the views of the senior unofficial member, who explained the practice hitherto prevailing and expressed him self in favour of my protest being recorded. You then ruled admitting my protest, but the Treasurer and Mr. Belilies were still not satisfied and maintained that my pro- test should not be seut to Government with the Committee's report, &c., unless I could quote authorities and verse and chapter for my action. The Treasurer further said that my objection to Mr. Belilios voting should have been taken at an earlier time and he moved round and made a search among the other books in front of you, for May's Parliamentary Prac- tice, which could not be found.
You say that I mistook and still mistake our position, on the said Committee, and that it was the Governor, and not the Legislative Council, who wished for the opinions of the members of the Public Works Committee. If our opinions were solely for His Excellency why not have forwarded to him a complète report, and why if it was not interested therein, lay an incomplete report of our meeting before the Legislative Council at its meeting on 25th ulto. ?
I have little to add to my former letter to you. I am almost positive that the voting on the Treasurer's first motion took place before you made your protest.
I understand now, that the Treasurer did move afterwards that your protest should not be recorded, and that this was seconded by Mr. Belilios, but as I did not put that to the meet- ing, and as it was not voted on, I am still of opinion that there was no more reason for re- cording it than for recording all the conversa. tion that took place. The fact of my accepting and recording your protest, was practically ruling the Treasurer's motion as out of order.-Yours very truly,
(Signed) R. D. ORMSBY. Hongkong, 20th February, 1898. Dear Mr. Ormsby,I duly received your note of 15th inst in reply to mine of 9th idein, from which I am sorry to observe you have little tö add to your letter of 9th inst. although you now understand that the Treasurer did more that my protest against an Honourable Member voting on a question in which he was directly pecuniarily interested should not be recorded, that this motion was secouded by Mr. Belilios, but that as you did not put it to the meeting, and as it was not voted on, you are still of opinion that there was no more reason for re- cording it than for recording the conversation which took place.
I must still submit for your onsideration that there is a very considerable difference between recording the discussions and debates which take place at a meeting either of the Council or of a committee of Council, and recording the acts of the Council or Committee which embody the formal outcome of the conversations and dis- cussions. It is not customary to record the one. It is the rule that the other should be entered on the minutes. I am not asking you to put on paper the conversation between myself and the Honourable The Treasurer or yours with the Senior Unofficial Momber, but I must again request you to amend the minutes by entering the formal motion duly made by the Treasurer and seconded by Mr. Belilios, and also the fact that you over-ruled it and refused to put it to the meeting. I think I am entitled as a mem- ber of the committee to have this done. I can- not understand why you should refuse to do so, and I suggest that before finally deciding ou should consult the Honourable the Attorney- General.-Yours very truly,
j T. H. WHITEHEAD. The Hon. R. D. Ormsby, Director of Public Works, and Chairman of Public Works Committee.
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD, having read the above correspondence, continued-I am sorry, sir, to have had to make this motion, but I feel that the omission from the minutes is a matter involving a very important principle and that the minutes should be still amended.
upon us.
The COLONIAL TREASURER-May I have permission, sir, pro forma to second that re- solution? Otherwise I would have no op- portunity, and no one else would have an It appears to me that you are under a mis-opportunity, of replying to the aspersions cast apprehension as to the position and the fane tions of the Public Works Committee. It is a Committee of the Council. Its duty is to ex- The COLONIAL TREASURER-Sir, at a meet- amine all projects submitted to it connecteding of the Public Works Committee held on with your Department and to report to the the 18th January of this year there was sub. Council for its information. Its object is to mitted to the Committee by direction of HE prepare the work for the Council, save lengthy the Governor a scheme relating to the new
Permission was given.