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made.
probably carried out by the appointments actually made. But desiring to obviate all possible objection, it is consented on your part to reduce the number of the Committee by the withdrawal of one official and one unofficial member, as Kench, an unofficial member, had expressed a desire to be relieved from serving. His Excellency was confirmed in his opinion of the propriety of the step by an intimation from the Chief Justice that he considered a Committee of six unduly large, and that the difficulty of getting so many members together would result in the inordinate protraction of the enquiry. That he was fully justified in this view is shown by the experience of the Po Leung Kuk Committee which, though it consisted of four members only besides the Chairman, took nearly a year, with the assistance of a shorthand writer, to record some 170 pages of evidence and furnish its report, giving only about half a page daily.
The difficulty of making appointments to Commissions in Hong Kong is equalled by the difficulty of inducing the members, when appointed, to work.
6.
The Retrenchment Committee having then been reduced to four members, exclusive of the Chairman, viz:- The Harbour Master, Attorney General, yourself, and Mr. Day, you still expressed dissatisfaction and asked that it might be reduced again.