qualified. All electors would be required to be registered and no
elector should be registered in more than one electoral division.
For the election of the Chinese members of Council the
administrative area of the Council would require to be divided into
electoral divisions or wards giving representation proportionately,
as nearly as may be, to the populations of such divisions.
The qualifications for Chinese electors might include residence
in the Colony for not less than six years during the ten years
immediately preceding registration, ability to read and write either
English or Chinese, and a moderate property qualification, such as
payment of rates to the amount of $200 a year or payment of Crown rent
to the amount of $50 a year, or liability for jury service or exemption
from jury service under section 4 of the Jury Ordinance.
As regards the non-Chinese electors, if a single register is
formed it would be the aim so to delimit the electoral areas as to give .
an opportunity for fair representation of the various races and
nationalities. An alternative method would be to compile separate
registers for the electors of different races and nationalities.
Qualifications for non-Chinese electors would resemble those for
Chinese electors, but the residential qualification might reasonably
be reduced to one year's residence during the five years immediately
preceding registration.
I will not now attempt to specify the Chinese and non-Chinese
bodies which would nominate the remaining sixteen members of the
Council. This is one of the many questions on which I shall value advice
and suggestions.
Subject to the possession of the requisite qualifications,
councillors might be of either sex and of any race or nationality. No
oath or affirmation of allegiance should be required of them.
No person
under the age of thirty years should be a councillor. Every councillor
should possess the qualifications of an elector of his own race. A
councillor elected to represent an electoral area should have been
resident or have had his principal place of business or employment in
that area for not less than one year immediately before the date of his
nomination.
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