The
7.
As at present constituted the Legislative Council consists of 8 Unofficial and 9 Official Members, excluding the Governor. I now recommend, with the full support of my un- official advisers, the addition of 5 unofficial seats and 3 official seats. This would give a total of 13 unofficial and 12 official seats "on the floor of the house", while retaining the official majority in the constitution by virtue of the Governor's original and casting votes. There are two aspects of this proposal. Unofficial Members, without dissent, would welcome the greater increase in unofficial seats, and believe that this would make a favourable impact on public opinion. Against this one can see a possible disadvantage in the responsibility which would face the Governor if he were ever required to exercise both his original and casting votes in favour of some measure to which there was unanimous unofficial opposition. In present circumstances, however, I regard this possibility as remote, and I am bound to conclude that the disadvantage to which I refer does not outweigh the advantages, in public representation, of an unofficial "majority" of 1 on the "floor of the house". And, in any case, the possession of the original and casting votes could be regarded as being the equivalent of a "reserve power" which, in other more advanced colonial constitutions, carries with it its own form of embarrassment as well as of insurance. I believe also that, in Hong Kong, the public will fully understand and draw encourage- ment from the reservation of the Governor's final powers in these votes.
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8.
On the additional official seats I am satisfied that there are good grounds for appointing the Director of Commerce and Industry, the District Commissioner, New Territories and the Commissioner of Labour. These appointments will serve to underline the attention we must give, in acknowledgement of public opinion, to these increasingly important and developing areas of activity.
9.
With my unofficial and official advisers I have naturally given much thought to the most appropriate fields from which to draw additional unofficial representatives for the Legislative Council if the proposals I have made above receive your approval. This would be largely a matter for my successor, and I can only touch here on some of the aspects, and emphasise some of the difficulties. Selection from certain fields, such as labour and the Kaifongs, is open to overriding political objections, and of course, in this kind of community, there is the risk of temptation being placed in the way of those with low incomes by those who wished to have things "fixed" for their particular advantage. There is now no support among my unofficials for the view that I should invite selected professions to put forward nominations. The professions are, in general, already well represented. There may, however, be scope for selection, for instance, from the teaching profession, from the lower branches of management and
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