Q
the number of Councillors, the more likelihood there will be of the
quality being below what is needed.
My Committee has long experience of the operation of the
mixed nationality Council of the Internation Settlement of Shanghai,
and is satisfied that a similar pattern of government would best
suit Hong Kong at the present time. The Council in Shanghai during
the period immediately preceding the butbreak of war with Japan was
16 in number, and it was found that this worked reasonably well.
It may be thought that a Council of this size would not be
able to man the various departmental committees without putting on
its members undue strain, and that would be true if membership of the
Council were to be a 'sine qua non' of membership of a Committee, but
my Committee would very strongly advocate that no such restriction
should be placed on Committee membership. My Committee regards this
question of the structure of Council Committees as one of first
importance, such that the success or failure of the whole project may
depend on it. In communities like that of Hong Kong, it is essential
that the governing body should have a sounding board for getting the
views of the "man in the street" on current administrative questions,
and it is also important for the governing body to be able to use
such expert and specialised knowledge as the community possesses.
These purposes are best served by utilising the services of non-
members of Council on the Council's Committees.
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In addition to the advantages already cited, this method
broadens the basis of government and, among other things, gives an
opportunity for interesting the smaller communities - e.g. American,
Dutch, Scandinavian in the tasks of the Government of the Colony.
It also gives opportunities for a knowledge of the Council's policies
and problems. to be more widely disseminated among the community as
a whole, without running the risk of weakening the quality of the
administrative body which is almost inevitable in an enlargement of
the Council itself. By this I mean that a Council of 16, using the
services of, say, 20 others on various committees, would be a much
firmer and better quality organisation than would a Council of 36.
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