M. Belilios have refused to sign it, it bears the signatures of
1. M. Chater and D. Ho Kai,
both members of the Council. M. Jackson, Manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank and of other leading residents, have also signed it. I am therefore bound to assume that it is the matured conviction of a considerable proportion of the most influential members of the community, that Constitutional changes are desirable at Hongkong and that for the present system some measure of self-government should be substituted.
It is my duty to examine the arguments which have been brought forward with care and attention; and I should be wanting in courtesy if I did not give an answer to a petition, which is so far-reaching in its scope and which has been so strongly supported.
Page 363
3. The Petitioners have addressed themselves to the House of Commons, as they have of course every right to do. From this it is natural to infer that they consider that they have grounds for discontent, which the Secretary of State is unwilling or unable to remove.