2 of the petition ascribes the prosperity progress of the Colony to the enterprise, energy, and commercial acumen of the community, and much will, I trust, be credited to them by the Imperial Government and the House of Commons. At the same time, I think a considerable share in the growth of Hong Kong's trade and stable importance is due to its government during the half century of its existence as a British Crown Colony.
As I intimated at the outset, I think that the unofficial element in the Legislative Council might be increased, but I do not consider that it would be well for the Colony to override the position whereby Government... Handling and Treatment of Records, and Numbers 13 and 14, of which a summary is annexed, signify that portion of the ticket marked KEPT OUT 358. I at least do not forget that in the event of the Governor of the day proving arbitrary or unreasonable, the Colonists have always the resource of appeal to the Secretary of State: this has rarely failed them in the past, and is not likely to prove less efficacious in the future. Moreover, and this is, I think, a consideration to which my fellow Colonists should attach great weight, the officials in the Colonial Office have had vast and varied experience of legislation in scores of Colonies, where all kinds of conditions prevail, and they do afford the Colonies great assistance in legislation, sending out drafts of bills.