69 Нам ныя столя
7°
From Houp Kory
;
Paragraph 13 of 69. One
Municipality.
L
Confidenkert De palet) 22.10.48
The 25-page despatch at 69 is a carefully considered and closely-reasoned document, in which after just under six months consultation with local. opinion the Governor submits his proposals for a new constitution. His 6-page confidential despatch at 70 adds comments on the political background to these proposals. It is perhaps remarkable, however, that in neither document is there any suggestion that comparison has been made with the pre-war Municipal Council of Singapore or that there has been consultation with the authorities in Singapore who have recently put forward recommendations for broadening the authority of that Council. experience or the Singapore authorities might prove useful in consideration of such questions as whether the Governor should have a power of veto (paragraph 42 of 69) and how voting qualification is affected
by the Japanese occupation(ap 15 of No. 69)
is there any
2. The proposals are generally on the lines anticipated and discussed here tentatively during the war. Briefly they are that a Municipality shall be established for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon but excluding the rural areas; that it shall represent the Chinese and non-Chinese communities in equal
· proportions; that it shall be constituted as to two thirds of its membership by direct election on a moderately wide franchise and as to one third by nomination by certain unofficial bodies; and that the chief functions which should be transferred from the Government to this Council should be Public Health, Education, Social Services, Town Planning and Public Works. In addition modifications in the constitution
of the Legislative Council are proposed for the purpose of increasing to the point of a majority the number of unofficial members.
3.
Paragraphs 6 to 11 of the despatch at 69 report the methods of consultation which were adopted in framing the proposals and the Governor then goes on to expound them in detail.
14.
It is interesting that apparently no voice was raised in favour of more than one municipality. Opinion in Stanley Internment Camp, where constitutional reform was discussed at length by a Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. (now Sir F.) Gimson, was solidly in favour of a separate municipality for Kowloon. (See Sir F. Gimson's letter to me at 25).< But the view here, at any rate Sir E. Gent's, was against two municipalities. What was stressed was the importance of safeguarding the special interests of the rural areas. These interests might well be overlooked by a Council composed of urban members and it seems wise provision therefore that the rural areas should be excluded from the scope of the proposed Municipal Council. Opponents of this view have pointed to the disadvantages of a duplication of services if the rural areas remain under the central government. The Governor considers, however, that when the time comes it will be possible to arrive at satisfactory arrangements for the continuance and ex- pansion of existing services in the New Territories. I think we can accept this view. In practice it should be possible to work things out satisfactorily, (especially as the transfer of present Government services to a Municipal Council is in any case to be
/gradual)
See also NR Sloss & vee
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