535

and the Lecretary of State, supported by the weapon held constantly in recerve that, unless the Government gives way, the Unofficial members

body. In this

will resign in a

manner he hopes to make

goverum!

under the existing constitution eithe

ridiculous

C

impossible, and (for

reasons which I need not specify) he is followed, since but Keswick went

official

on leave, by the other un-

onembers.

At a conference which

the Colonial Secretary had recently by my desire with the unofficial members on the subject of Your Lordship's despatch about Gaol accomodation, they all said that, innless the Secretary of State

gave way,

they

they would resign in a

body, and

they plainly intimated that this

would produce a difficulty which

it would be impracticable to overcome.

And for Whitehead observed that

he had counselled a

Similar Course

on the question of the military tribution,

"If my

Con-

and he added with emphasis, advice had been followed we

" should have made the Secretary of "tate?"

"Chimb down", and we should by now have

"had

a

different constitution,

and'

the same thing would have happened'

at

Singapore and in Ceylon?"

6. Now looking to the vast importance of Hongkong to the British Empire from

every

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