F
Restricted
Cypher OTP
No. 241
RECEIVED
8- MAR 1947 C.O. REGY.
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
FROM FOREIGN OFFICE TO NANKING
4th March 1947. D. 6.35 p.m. 4th March 1947.
IMMEDIATE
RESTRICTED
rrrrrr
RECEIVED
8- MAR 1947 C. O. REGY.
C.O.
Following is text of statement which Seerotary of
State for the Colonies proposes to make in answer to a
Parliamentary Question on the afternoon of Wednesday
5th March.. Until then it should be regarded as
confidential.
[Begins]
On the 1st May my predecessor announced in this House that His Majesty's Government had had under
consideration the means by which in Hong Kong, as
elsewhere in the Colonial Empire, the inhabitants of
the territory could be given a fuller and more responsible share in the management of their own affairs.
He went
on to say that it was thought that one possible method of achieving this end would be by handing over certain functions of internal administration to a Municipal Council constituted on a fully representative basis but that the Governor had been asked thoroughly to examine these important issues in consultation with the representatives of all sections of the community in
Hong Kong.
The