SECRET
INWARD TELEGRAM
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES
1961
188192 of 344
MAR
FROM HONG KONG (Sir R. Black)
L
+961 UVIN EZ
Simplex
NEBLOVI V
D. 25th March, 1964. R. 25th 10
期
09.40 hrs.
IMMEDIATE
SECRET
No. 371
(40) 10
COPY FOR REGISTRATION
Your telegram No. 534.
Constitution.
Following is text of the statement I shall make tomorrow afternoon unless I hear from you to the contrary.
A
"I am able, on this the last occasion on which I shall be addressing Council, to announce developments on a matter to which I know you have all given much thought and on which I have sought your advice on several occasions.
e
The Secretary of State for the Colonies has recently indicated that he proposes to ask Her Majesty The Queen to make provision for an expansion of the representation on this Council in terms of both unofficial and official members,
You will recall the discussions held with you and with the unofficial members of Executive Council during the latter part of last year, at which we reached general agreement that responsible opinion in the Colony would welcome an expansion of the field from which the Governor selects the unofficial representatives on the Legislative Council. The unofficial members have also expressed a wish to increase the scope and intensity of their own, already considerable, individual activities in the public interest and, in particular, their contact with the general public. We need some reinforcement in numbers to spread this burden and there is a further and continual demand on members' services on representative missions outside the Colony. But the main purpose of the changes is to enable the Governor to bring on to this Council persons who, while nominated as individuals, may nevertheless be able to represent views of a wider cross-section of the community than is possible with the present numbers. This, I know, is very much in accordance with your own wishes. On the other hand the changes now proposed do not involve any departure from the principles laid down in 1960 when, as Hon. Members will recall, the Minister of State for the Colonies, speaking with the authority of the Secretary of State, declared that Her Majesty'ą“ Government consider it is undesirable that there should be any radical or major changes in the present constitutional position in Hong Kong. This does not, however, preclude the possibility of minor modifications within the framework of existing principles to the composition of the Legislative and Executive Councils.
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