6.
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community, and the capacity to represent that community with skill
and courage, yet to maintain due regard for the rights and needs
of the other communities in the Municipality.
It is not necessary in this letter to make suggestions
as to the form of the electoral college or colleges, as this is a
matter which could be worked out in Hong Kong with little difficulty;
the Chinese system of Guilds makes a ready starting point.
As to the non-Chinese section of the population, the
objections to a ballot-box system which have been referred to in
the case of the Chinese community do not arise, and my Committee
sees no reason why its representatives should not be chosen by the
use of a franchise based on a property and residential qualification.
It is, however, necessary to consider what kind of balance
is to be aimed at, in the constitution of the Council itself,
between Asiatics and non-Asiatics, because, according to the decision
on this point, the method of selection of non-Chinese representatives
will somewhat depend. My Committee considers that it would be
wise and, in the long run, most effective to adopt as a fundamental
that the Council should consist of one-half Asiatic and one-half non-
Asiatic representatives. This would mean that Indian, Philippine
and other communities of Asiatic races would need to be formed into
an electoral college, and their representative or representatives
would count in the Asiatic half of the Council as a whole.
This is a
If all Asiatic communities are put into electoral colleges,
it might be desirable, in order to avoid the charge of discrimina-
tion, to arrange an electoral college for the non-Asiatic communities al though, as stated above, no practical or political difficulty
would present itself to an ordinary ballot-box method.
point on which local opinion would best decide, but whatever system is adopted, there is one important point which my Committee wishes
to make: it relates to the position of those business men and
employees of business firms whose interests embrace areas apart from Hong Kong and who, therefore, may not have long residence - and
in the Colony, though they particularly long consecutive residence
-