(C.A.A. 1).
SECRET.
Узан
CIVIL AFFAIRS ADMINISTRATION,
Lower Albert Road,
1436
dongxkongx&xShanghai Puk:Bukling,
Hong Kong.
February 16th, 1946.
Dear Lloyd,
I have jus
received your SECRET letter (14342/
3 2/1/46) of 23rd January, 1946. It is a relief that our policy
with regard to the Chinese leaders has been confirmed and we are proceeding on the lines proposed in your letter which con- firmed Hazlerigg's verbal account of the decisions reached.
to
The question of membership of the new Councils, which you refer in your para. 6, has been given considerable thought, and there is little doubt that several difficulties lie ahead. Frankly, I would still prefer to advise the deferment of the appointment of any unofficial members until the Governor has had an opportunity of seeing for himself the somewhat alarming absence of new and energetic leaders of the Chinese community. All the former Chinese members remain; all except one are asso- ciated to a greater or lesser degree in the public mind with the Japanese administration; and, inspite of all that one could wish. to the contrary, they still appear to be the only members of the Chinese community who possess the stature and experience which appointment to the Councils demands.
1
In face of these difficulties the proposal for an interim Advisory Council, to assist the Governor pending the appointment of Executive and Legislative Councils, which I noticed in H.M.G.'s White Paper on the Malayan Union and Singapore, recommends itself as a palliative not inappropriate to conditions here. I am advised, however, that the effectiveness of the future Civil Government is likely to be severely hampered by the absence of a traditionally-constituted representative body with statutory powers. I appreciate the force of this argument and am driven to the conclusion that, difficult as it will be, the satisfactory establishment of representative councils is a necessary corollary to the return of a Civil Government unavoidably faced with a heavy programme of controversial measures.
I still feel, however, that it is most undesirable that the initial choice of unofficial members should be binding for the prescribed period of four and five years for the Legis- lative and Executive Councils respectively. In normal times a four or five year term is, in my view, too long, and is, apparently, longer than obtains in most Colonies. But in the present circum- stances it is important that the Governor should be given an opportunity to consider the capabilities of possible new members, together with the claims of other aspirants, before he is committed for the next few years by definitive appointments. This might be achieved by limiting the initial appointments to a period of one year or six months, or by making appointments stated most specifi- cally to be provisional and by deferring H.M.'s confirmation of these pending the Governor's considered opinion as to the suitability or otherwise of the candidate for a full term. Either of these alternatives seems adequately provided for under Articles II, IV, XIV and XVI of the Royal Instructions.