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Enclosure
5.
CHINESE GENERAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
Hongkong, 6th. January, 1919.
154
A public meeting has been summoned by the Committee of the Hongkong Constitutional Reform Association
for the 9th. January, at which there will be submitted four
resolutions advocating the principle of election in place of nomination of Unofficial Members for the Legislative Council; an Unofficial majority on that Council; and an increase in
the number of Unofficial Membere thereof from six to eight.
Though the meeting convened is to be a
"public meeting", the wording of the proposed resolutions
leaves no doubt that they are not intended to apply to the
Chinese. This intentional exclusion of the Chinese from
participating in the privileges which the Association seeks
to secure, has caused uneasiness among the thinking section
of the Chinese Community; and in consequence of representa-
tione made to me as the Chairman of the Chinese General
Chamber of Commerce, I had an Extraordinary General Meeting
convened on the 27th. December to discuss the matter. A
large number of members representing all the important Chinese interests (including my Chinese colleague on the
Legislative Council, and representatives of the District
Watchmen, the Tung Wa and the Po Leung Kuk Committees)
attended; and the following resolutions were unanimously
passed:-
1.
2.
That in the opinion of this Meeting, the summons
to the "public meeting" convened by the Hongkong
Constitutional Reform Association does not extend
to the Chinese.
That this Meeting is of the opinion that, in the
event of the number of Unofficial Members of the
Legislative Council being increased, the number
of