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without undue delay. I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX,
Secretary.
To Hon. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, Colonial Secretary.
THE SENIOR UNOFFICIAL MEMBER TO THE GOVERNOR,
Hongkong, 27th November, 1896
Sir,-With reference to your Excellency's despatches Nos. 138 G. and 141 G., of the 12th and 19th inst. respectively, I have the honour to inform you that the draft estimates for 1897 were duly forwarded to the unofficial members of the Legislative Council for their perusal.
The question of the abolition of the Gap Rock Lighthouse rate was again discussed by them at a meeting held on the 25th inst., all being present, with the exception of Mr. Bell-Irving, who had left the colony.
We are unanimous in considering that it is expedient for your Excellency to redeem the pledge given by your predecessor to the effect that this special rate should cease as soon as the cost of the light had been defrayed.
As regards the covering of the deficit in the revenue resultant on its abolition, Messrs. Ho Kai, Belilios, Wei Yuk, and myself are of opinion that a fixed rate of 2 cents per ton should in future be imposed as light dues on all shipping entering the harbour, and in this we are joined by Mr. Bell-Irving, who addressed a letter to me on the subject immediately before his departure. Mr. Whitehead does not concur in this proposal and is addressing your Excellency directly on the subject.- I am, &c. &c.
(Signed) C. P. CHATER.
His Excellency Sir Wm. Robinson, K.C.M.G., Governor, Hongkong.
T. H. WHITEHEAD TO THE GOVERNOR,
Hongkong, 2nd December, 1896.
Sir,
I have the honour to address your Excellency with reference to your communication to the unofficial members of Council, made through the senior member, on the subject of the Gap Rock Light dues, under date the 12th November. Mr. Chater in his letter in reply, dated the 27th ulto., has informed you of my intention to do so, and of my dissent from the opinions expressed by him on behalf of his other colleagues in the Council on the subject in question.
I dissent so strongly, both as to the procedure adopted by your Excellency in bringing the matter before the members of Council privately, and on the merits of the question, and I deem it of such importance to the public, that I propose to now publish the whole correspondence, and to refer the subject to the Secretary of State.
I take leave to call your Excellency's attention in the first place to the fact that although the letter of the Chamber of Commerce, calling the attention of the Government to the fact that the time had arrived for the abolition of the Gap Rock Light dues, was dated the 31st July, it was not until the 12th ulto. that any step appears to have been taken with a view to the consideration of the question.
I note in the second place that it was not until the 19th November that the Estimates for the year 1897 were circulated to members and that they contain no suggestion of any intention on the part of the Government to relieve the trade of the colony of the burden imposed on shipping for a special purpose long since accomplished, or any proposals for any alternative measure.
I beg most respectfully to submit that the delay in the preparation and publication of the Estimates, and especially the delay in taking action on the Chamber of Commerce letter of the 31st July, is most injurious to the public interests, and prevents any proper and adequate consideration of the important questions involved, either by the responsible members of the Council or by the public who are directly interested.
The Estimates will be laid upon the Council table to-morrow for the first time, and will then only become known to the community generally. I understand that they must be passed before the end of the month, and there is now no time left for their proper and effective consideration.
I feel it my duty to formally protest against the holding back of the Estimates until the very last month in the year.
I beg further most respectfully to protest against the method recently adopted by the Government of privately consulting the unofficial members of Council on matters the consideration of which ought properly and must ultimately be brought before the Council at its public sittings, and of obtaining from them, in writing through the senior member, opinions on matters on which subsequently they are called upon to vote in open Council.
Such consultations must tend to render the meetings of Council farcical. There can be no real consideration or discussion, all being cut and dried beforehand. The public may have no opportunity of hearing the reasons put forward by the Government in support of their views, and the unofficial members must be deprived of the opportunity of learning the opinions on the subject of those they are supposed to represent, whatever it may be.
The continuance of such methods must render the proceedings of the Council pro forma, and I submit they are unconstitutional.
I desire that the point and my complaint may be referred to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and that his special attention may be directed to this, that if such a course of procedure is permissible at any time—and I do not say that within limits it is not—this question of the Gap Rock Light dues is the very last that should be dealt with in that way.
It is a question affecting the freedom of the port, affecting directly every merchant and trader, a question which ought to be as publicly and as thoroughly ventilated as possible, and to the consideration of which and of the possible consequences of the abolition or retention of the tax, the greatest length of time should be given.
The Chamber of Commerce, directly representing the mercantile and shipping interest, make strong representations on the subject, and their representations and opinions should not, I think, be overruled by a secret conclave of gentlemen, one only of whom, Mr. Bell-Irving, directly represents the mercantile and shipping world, and who in fact was absent from the meeting of unofficial members at which the question was settled.
The other unofficial members are large land owners or largely interested in land and property, and only indirectly interested in the trade and freedom of the port.
This is not a question which should be left to the unofficial members to settle in private, and without a full consideration and discussion of all possible alternatives.
There may be a discussion in open Council, and speeches may be made, but there will be no bona fide debate. There cannot be, when the conclusion has been prearranged.
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