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DRAFT.
*This complaint is too vague to notice. How can we disprove the allegation? We cannot institute an enquiry involving a comparison with the treatment of Unofficials elsewhere.
E.F.
I rather think they are the guardians of the Public purse, officials being the guardians of efficiency. I don't know why Sir W. Robinson thought it worth while to contest their claim and we need not refer to it.
E.P.
entering upon various points of detail which are referred to in this memorial that I am loath to believe and see no reason to believe that the services of the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council are less valued and less utilized in Hong Kong than in other Crown Colonies.
While I am not prepared to admit the inference which might be drawn from this petition that they more than the official members are "the guardians of the Public purse" I gladly recognise, as Secretaries of State and Governors have always recognised, the public advantage which is derived from, and the regard which criticism and advice should be paid to the
We can't expect them to admit that there has been no discourtesy to them. Mr O'Brien made a slip, which the Governor and others regret, in referring in a speech to a private conversation. I would omit the whole of this paragraph, 1617. E.F.
advice of leading members of the community who are not in the paid service of the Government; and it is with much regret that I notice that the petition implies that the non-official members have been treated with scant courtesy by the local Government by the Secretary of State.
I see no reason to think that there is any foundation for such an impression. If it exists, I am sorry that it should have been even implied, and trust that it will be at once and for ever dispelled.
You will be good enough to communicate this despatch to the Unofficial...