OUTWARD TELEGRAM
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54145/4/46 Part II
Cypher (0.T. P. )
No. 152 Secret.
TO HONG KONG (Sir H. Young)
FROM 9. OF S., COLONIES.
Sent 24th January, 1947. 20.30 hrs.
Your despatch No. 145 and your confidential despatch of 22nd October.
Constitution.
1. I am greatly impressed with the thoroughness with which this complex matter has been examined and the very competent manner in which the arguments and conclusions have been presented, I should be glad if you would convey a suitable expression of my appreciation to Mr. Hazlerigg for his share of this work.
2.
Your proposals have been carefully studied in the Department and I do not expect to have many comments on points of détail. Before going into details, however, I should very much like to be fortified with your further views on the general question of the best course of constitutional development in Hong Kong in the light of the two considerations mentioned below.
3. In the first place, constitutional advance in Singapore is now likely to take the form of widening the representative basis of the Legislative Council by the creation of an unofficial majority and the election, on a non-communal basis, of a substantial proportion of the members by an adult electorate, for which there will be no property or literacy qualification. You will recall that at the time when this matter was discussed with you in the early months of this year, it was thought that constitutional advance in Hong Kong would, primarily, probably take the form of the creation of a Municipal Council. There was then in mind the probable precedent of /Singapore