495
THE ELEMENT which is least represented
while it is also far the most numerous,
and that I should regard as valuable
any step which tended to attach them
more closely to the British connection,
and to increase their practical interest
in public affairs.
6.
As regards the second point, namely,
whether or not an unofficial element
should be introduced into the Executive
Council, I would observe that, whilst
most of the larger Crown colonies
possess one or more municipal Councils
subordinate to the Colonial Government,
in Hongkong there is no such institution
and that it seems impracticable to alter
this state of things for this reason,
among others, that the Colony and the
Municipality would be in great measure
co-extensive, and it would be almost
impossible to draw the line between
colonial