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HONG KONG GOVERNMENT Part II.
(Constructive).
In these advices the most I can hope for is broadly
to outline how I think the Government of Hong Kong, if reconstructed to meet changing conditions, might increase British influence and raise our prestige in China.
Hong Kong, just like Shanghai, although they have not yet realized it, have (certainly in the making) their own Municipal problem. There has so far been no serious agitation on the part of the Chinese to participate to a greater extent than at present in Municipal affairs; but this demand will most assuredly sooner or later arise, and, if Hong Kong are wise, they will take time by the forelock and try to anticipate events.
Anyone who has come into contact with the Hong Kong official and who may even have only an elementary knowledge of what is happening in China to-day, ought to realize that the ultra-conservative Colonial policy practised in Hong Kong for so many years past is now utterly obsolete and useless, and must go by the board if we desire to assist the Chinese and improve our relations with them. It has been brought forcibly home to me, on my return to China, and since I have had an opportunity of acquiring a fuller knowledge of the Municipal