THE ROYAL INSTITUTE
OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Chatham House, 10 St James's Square, London, S.W.I
Hong Kong Group Paper No.14
CONFIDENTIAL
ADMINISTRATION OF HONG
KONG
(SECOND DRAFT)
Under the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions Hong Kong consti- tutionally follows the usual pattern of Crown Colony Government. Al- though (a) there have hitherto been no popular elections of candidates, (b) there is no Second Chamber, and (c) the Governor himself presides and also has a vote in Council, this accords with the United Kingdom model in its main essentials, namely the absolute independence of the judiciary, the absence of any "droit administratif" protecting the Executive, and something like a Cabinet system to link the Executive and the Legislature.
The local equivalent of Parliament is of course the Legislative Council of seventeen. Apart from legislation proper it is in this Council that questions criticizing the actions of the Government or its officers have to be publicly answered, it is here that important questions of policy are expounded and debated, and it is on the table of this Council that are laid not only the annual reports of Depart- ments but also Sessional Papers analogous to the White Papers of Parliament. Above all it is in this Council that all matters of finance and taxation must be sanctioned, the annual Budget of Revenue and Expenditure approved and any divergence from the printed estimates (whether or not there are countervailing savings elsewhere) specifically authorized.
If the Unofficial members of Council were by analogy considered as a parliamentary opposition the Government'd majority of one vote might -seem precarious and liable to defeat on a snap division; but the analogy
is not a fair one for (a) all eight unofficials (including three of Chinese race) are Governor's appointees, even though one is nominated by the General Chamber of Commerce and one by the whole body of Justices of the Peace; (b) the nine Official members are senior Government officers; five, including the General Officer Commanding, ex officio and four by selection; and their votes regulated by something much stricter than a party whip; (c) the Executive Council, the rough equivalent of the Cabinet, contains three Unofficial members, who are therefore to this extent "Government"; and (d) all normal financial questions are decided by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council consisting of all eight Unofficials and the Colonial Secretary in the Chair supported only by the Financial Secretary and (for convenience) the Director of Public Works.
A slightly different procedure is now followed in the matter of the annual Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure: the Government's proposals are first laid before the full Council and the latter then refers them for detailed consideration to an ad hoc Committee (but constituted almost precisely as is the Finance Committee) and the recommendations of this Committee are then formally approved in full Council and at once have full legislative authority.
Actually the official majority, whether in financial or in other matters, has very seldom to be invoked. The last date of such an occurrence is thought to have been in 1931, when, on instructions from the Colonial Office, it was necessary to make certain salary adjustments