10
when in accord with their colleagues would in some degree lesson the responsibility of the officiels".
There are two or three general points to be borne in mind in connexion with this question.
1.
Sanitation is perhaps the most important of all subjects in Hong Kong. If there is one point more than another worthy of the attention and demanding the
responsible care of the Government, it is this.
2. It is impossible to draw a line between
Colonial and Municipal matters. The whole Colony is
one large municipality.
3. On the other hand the Sanitary Board has
contained the semblance of popular representation, and latterly there has been an attempt at a movement in
favour of representative institutions a ludicrously
unpractical movement which if it means anything,
means the establishment of an oligarchy. Still such
as it is there has been such a movement, and for this
reason Mr Chamberlain's despatch declined to abolish
the Sanitary Board unless the Legislative Council
distinctly pronounced in favour of the abolition.
then The solution of this matter is not easy. sanitation of the Colony will probably be best provided for if it is in purely Government hands; on the other
hand it is desirable not to quench harmless and possi-
bly healthy unofficial participation in matters of
public interest.
tory
The
Regarding the suggested compromise as unsatisfac- mainly because it is so obviously a temporary
expedient