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Hon. F. B. JOHNSON said it was not a case of such urgency that it would not wait for that time, but the inconvenience attending that course was that another meeting would have to be held to carry the Bill through.
HIS EXCELLENCY said he was quite ready to summon the Council whenever it was necessary. The Council was then adjourned until Friday, the 28th instant.
The only point of importance connected with these proceedings is that raised by the Honourable F. Burlkeley Johnson, (the local head of the great mercantile firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co.), one of the Unofficial Members; and commented upon by the Colonial Secretary, (the Honourable W. H. Marsh, C.M.G.). The Council unanimously concur with the view taken of the point at issue by Mr. Burlkeley Johnson; and I stated that the Standing Orders in force to regulate the proceedings of the Legislature in other Crown Colonies should be introduced also in Hong Kong, and that, as a general rule, and except in cases of urgency, or of special instructions from Her Majesty's Government, all votes of public money should be, for the future, considered, in the first instance, in the re-constituted Legislative