Gou Jurby 634 instructed the Registrar-General to convene meetings at his office of the Committee of the Tung Wa Hospital, the Committee of the Po Leung Kuk Society, and the members of the leading Chinese Mercantile Firms and Chinese Guilds, at which Mr. Brewin fully discussed and explained the measure.
6. In all three Meetings were held at which 57 representative Chinese attended, the Chinese Members of Council and certain other influential Chinese being present. These are the meetings referred to by Dr. Ho Kai in his speech on the 2nd reading of the Bill. (Hansard report enclosed). At the last of these a Resolution was passed by a large majority, representing the most influential portion of the Chinese community and that which has the largest stake in the Colony, to the following effect:-
"This meeting offers no opposition to the Hill District Reservation Bill but respectfully requests the Government to word the Ordinance in such a way as to be less distasteful to Chinese sentiment".
This Resolution and the remarks of Dr. Ho Kai will explain the somewhat awkwardly inverted form adopted in clause 3 of the Ordinance. The amendment met the wishes of the Chinese Members and the Bill passed through all its stages without a single vote being recorded against it.
It was not possible to adopt the form of general restriction of Europeans and Chinese alike suggested by Mr. Chamberlain in the case of the Kowloon Reservation (Vide his Despatch No.289 of the 4th September, 1902) because the owners of property in the Peak District, who by their enterprise have made the District what it is, would naturally