Legislative Council shall take place after the Municipal Council has been established (see paragraph 9 of my minute of 3/6).
6. Now see 27216/84/48 Appointments where it is suggested that four candidates for the post of Town Clerk should be interviewed, perhaps by Mr. Paskin, Mr. Sidebotham and Mr. Roberts-Wray.
7. Were it not for this development it might have been sufficient merely not to agitate the matter of these constitutional changes, while waiting to see what may happen in China. But something must be said pretty soon to these candidates.
8. Before proceeding any further with the recruitment of the Town Clerk, ought we not to write semi-officially to the Governor and enquire whether, in view of the unsettled situation in China he would wish to postpone introduction of the constitutional changes recently approved? Pending a reply to this there is little we could say to the candidates and it might be best to do nothing temporarily.
J. Wreen
9. 11. 48.
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Mr. Paskin
Mr. Wallace's minute was written after some discussion with myself, and generally reflects my own views.
From casual discussions with officials, as well as with some Chinese unofficials who have come to see me from time to time (the most recent was Dr. Chau), I am quite satisfied that there is little or no enthusiasm in Hong Kong for these constitutional changes at all, and the present state of affairs in China makes me feel that, at any rate, the Governor may wish (and we ourselves certainly ought toto consider whether this is really the moment for pushing ahead. It would, in my view, be a great mistake to give either Communists or the Kuomintang any opportunity for "capturing" the Municipal Council, having regard to what is happening in China.
We have now got some possible candidates to interview for the post of Town Clerk for the new Municipality, whose presence there is required ahead of its creation to help fashion and frame the new.Municipal arrangements. We clearly cannot keep these candidates waiting long, and my own in- clination would be to send a secret telegram to the Governor saying 'that we feel some doubt as to whether it is desirable, at the present juncture, bees an with the proposed revision of the Constitution and for the creation of the Municipality; that, in this latter connection, we have now possible can- didates available for interview but, before doing so, we
/ should