Acted.
MINISTRY OF LABOR
MONTAGU POS 16 MARE 2.8.30 A
„PRIEVED IN Endlotu
Constitutional Reform Association
of bongkong.
351
Dear Sir,
Hon. Secretary's Office,
2, Queen's Building, Hongkong.
For a quarter of a century (1896-1922) the people of Hongkong have endeavoured to obtain some
the system of local
Government.
reform
in
At present we are governed by a Legislative Council consisting of fourteen members, eight of whom are official and six unofficial. whom are British and ᎠᎵ the six unofficial members (four of two Chinese), two Chinese and two British are nominated by the Governor and only the remaining two are elected, each of them by a That is to say, one is elected by very limited number of voters. unofficial Justices of the Peace (all of whom are nominated by the Jovernor) and the other by the members of the Chamber of Commerce, many of whom have a plural voting power, inasmuch as they are also Justices of the Peace.
Whenever any motion approved of by the local community is sub- mitted to the Legislative Council by the unofficial members, the Governor can defeat it by calling upon the official members to vote against it, whether they really are of the same mind with him or not. There is no redress against this autocratic system of admin- istration and we now, for the second time in the last five years, are petitioning to be allowed a larger share in the management of the British members our local affairs by substituting-as far as are concerned the system of election for that of nomination.
enolose a copy We beg to
of our Petition, together with
commend brochure on the subject of Constitutional Reform, which we
EL
to your consideration.