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be elected. It would be practicable to arrange
for elections to be held by ballot amongst the European community and there was great psychological importance
in "giving the vote".
7. On the other hand it was not considered practicable for the 7 Chinese Members to be elected by ballot.
It was said that the Chinese do not understand and are
not in sympathy with the method of the ballot box and
that the acceptable machinery in this case would be nomination by representative guilds.
It was
appreciated that this might give an unfortunate im-
pression, particularly in America, that the European
community was being given the vote and not the Chinese
community but on the whole it was concluded that such
a decision could be defended on the grounds that it
was in accordance with Chinese custom and tradition.
8.
•
It would be the Governor's responsibility to see
that any interests not covered by the 9 European or 7
Chinese members should be represented by the 7 Nominated
Members. Some difficulty was envisaged in the selection of two effective representatives for the rural areas,
since the people of these districts can rarely speak
English (which would be the language of the Municipal
Council) and it was important they they should be able
to hold their own. It would not be appropriate to have indirect representation (for example
the cayice which has been adopted in Kenya, where a
missionary represents native interests) and a foreigner,
while he might adequately look after their interests,
would not be eligible as a non-British subject.
appreciated that this matter would need considerable
thought.
9.
It was
It was agreed that, having regard to the relatively
wide field of responsibility which it was
proposed