54145/4/50
1532 Wt18027/5526 100m 7/50 F A Gp58
C. 0.
SECRET
Mr.....
Hall 21/9
Mx Sir K.Roberts-Wray 26/9
Mr.
Sidebotham
27/9
Boi Jaffres 2919
Mr.
Permt U.S. of S.
Parly. U.S. S.
Minister of State
X Secretary of State
Your Reference..........
Letter sent Initialled
Dated 10.10.50
9/10/80
43
PRINTED FOR USE,
Eastern No. 182
COLONIAL OFFICE
DRAFT Quarto.
For Mr. Sidebotham's Signature.
See 52
J.F. NICOLL, ESQ., C.M.G.,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
>
HONGKONG
FURTHER ACTION
(43)
Jaway ill
Paskin is on leave and I am therefore writing
for him to thank you for your letter to him of the 6th
1
September telling us of the outcome of your discussions
with the Executive Council on the draft despatch on
Constitutional Reform.
2. Your letter arrived, I am glad to say, just in
time to enable us to have a further discussion with
Grantham shortly before he left, and we have now gone
into very carefully with him the points you made.
Our comments, with which Grantham is in general
agreement, are set out in the following paragraphs.
3. As regards the first paragraph of your letter,
we appreciate that the Unofficial Members should not
now be asked to accept any proposals which are
obviously less liberal than those put forward in 1949.
The present proposals are, we feel, not really less
liberal, in principle at any rate, as there will be
an unofficial majority and, in fact, the method of
indirect election suggested will widen the franchise
even more,
14.
With reference to your second paragraph
Grantham had, when we first discussed the new
proposals with him at the beginning of his leave,
mentioned to us that just before he left Hong Kong
/Morse