4.
21
It is, of course, implicit in this proposal that the
Council itself would pass upon all recommendations of the Committees,
and would accept or reject them as it saw fit, just as is the prac-
tice in Municipal Government in this country, so there would appear
to be many advantages and few, if any, disadvantages in the system
advocated.
In brief, then, my Committee strongly recommends that the
number of the Council should not exceed 16, and that its Committees
(other than perhaps the Staff Committee) should include non-members
of Council as may be thought necessary or appropriate by the Council
itself, with the proviso that the Chairmen of all Committees should
be members of Council so as to be able to report to Council on their
Committee activities.
of Councillors.
The next point to which I refer is the method of election
Here it is inevitable that the subject should be
considered under racial or national headings, so as to obtain a per-
spective of the problem as a whole.
in Hong Kong particular atten-
tion must, of course, be given to the Chinese population and its
special problems, and to the position of the British population
which, though in a small minority, is nevertheless extremely impor-
tant commercial, socially and culturally.
In considering an electoral system, first thoughts turn
to a democratic system based on the ballot box, but the dangers and
weaknesses of that system are quickly apparent to those with a know-
ledge of the standards of education and of political morality in
the Far East at the present time.
Furthermore, it is well known
that the population of Hong Kong is frequently and especially the
target for propaganda - often accompanied by intimidation - in
support of political or subversive movements having no relation to the
day-to-day administration of the Colony.
My Committee is therefore convinced that an electoral
system on the "Western" model would inevitably lead to the Hong Kong
Municipal Council becoming a centre of propaganda and of activities
which would be entirely detrimental to its efficiency as an adminis-
trative body. Out of their observations of the working in Shanghai