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Yes. Best othe
i
Mr.
Paskin
I have been able briefly to read through the letter from Mr. Nicoll which you handed me this morning, about the draft despatch enclosed in (38) in relation to the constitutional proposals summarised at (23) on this file.
As we are to discuss with Sir A. Grantham tomorrow I shall not do more than minute briefly. (For ease of reference I have numbered the paragraphs in Mr. Nicoll's letter).
(a) As to para. 2 I should not oppose the suggestion
that the number of nominated unofficial members be increased from 4 to 5. I should, however, leave the Governor's original and casting vote unless Sir A. Grantham is completely satisfied that an original vote is unnecessary, i.e., that he can invariably rely on three out of his five nominees voting with the Government instead of two out of four. (See passage flagged 'X' on page 2 of the note at (25) on this file).
(b) Briefly I think the answers to the arguments in
paras. 3 and 4 are:
(i) That to adopt a franchise for the Legislature might involve a long delay. There would be much legal drafting to be done, etc., etc., whereas to widen the urban franchise as suggested could be done very quickly.
(ii) That this is not the time for a major change,
i.e., the introduction of ma
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the
legislation in Hong Kong, whereas in the case of the Urban District Council election the elective principle is already recognised and than byance much less dangerous;
(iii) That without some such advice to enable the
Secretary of State to defend the principles in Parliament (see No. (32) on this file) the proposals would not be accept ble
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(c) The point in para. 4 seems to me sustent, immaterial,
(d) Therefore we cannot, I think, agree to the omission
proposed in para. 5
(e) As to para. 6 I should not offer any objection to
the amendments proposed.
(f) Para. 7 I think is probably as much as we can hope
for at present.
In general, I feel that we have got to stand firm on the question of extending the Urban Council franchise for without that I do not think that the Secretary of State will be prepared to accept these proposals. I suggest that the Governor should be so informed before he leaves, if need be after reference to Secretary of State, and that it should be then left to him to negotiate further with his unofficials and persuade them, if possible to agree to this.
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/Sir