14.
13: 207
The Representative of the Crown should
Know the views of the
local
of the Chief Hongmerchants, and should maintain
with them more cordial personal relations which alone produce efficient
Co-operation.
6. In Singapore the Executive
Council now consists of (1) The Governor
(2.)
The Officer Commanding the Troops (3.) The Colonial Secretary (4) The Attorney-General. (5.) The Surveyor-General, who is also Director of Public Works. So far
as I am aware, this is the only Colony in
which
the Treasurer, who is (so to speak)
The Minister of Finance and Trade,
and the Chancellor of the Colonial
Exchequer, is excluded from the Executive Council; and I recommend that this Anomaly, which causes great Official inconvenience, should cease. I further
strongly recommend that the Registrar-General, the official Protector of the Chinese, who form the overwhelming majority of our population, should have a seat in the Executive Council. The confidence of the Chinese in the Government would thus be increased.
Moreover,
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