23
I
Mr. Looker was under the misapprehension
that the Bill had originated in this office.
assured him that the Bill was initiated by the
Governor and that all we had done so far had
been to refer it to the Board of Trade and our
He would legal advisers for technical amendments.
like the Governor to be asked to state the scope
of the works which he contemplates undertaking
under the Bill in the next few years.
I suggested that, in any event, owing to the provision for the giving of notice and the necessity for providing money there would be full opportunity
before any works were initiated,
but for discussion in the Legislative Council M it was quite clear that Mr. Looker had no confidence that the unofficial members of the Legislative Council
properly
would represent the case of the commercial interests. This was rather depressing and it makes it very
difficult to endeavour to ascertain unofficial
opinion if important interests do not take the trouble to secure representation on the Legislati ve Council, where in addition to the members nominated by the Governor one member is nominated by the
Justices of the Peace and one by the Chamber of
Commerce. It was quite clear that the Chamber
of Commerce do not feel that their views are
being properly represented by Sir William Shenton; that indeed I gathered when I saw Sir William.
Mr. Looker opposed the provisions of the
Bill in general terms and affected to be ignorant
of the nature of any particular schemes which
the Hongong Government
had in mind, but it
seemed clear that at the back of his mind was the
idea