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42. I come lastly to the question whether the Municipality should

be subject to any form of external control. In several quarters the

opinion has been expressed that the Governor or the Governor-in-Council

or the Legislative Council should have a right to veto any decision of the

Municipal Council or to insist upon action being taken which the Council

has declined or is unwilling to take. It has also been suggested that

all by-laws enacted by the Municipality should be subject to confirmation

by the Legislative Council. On the other hand there are grounds for

holding that within the sphere assigned to it by the constituting

enactment and by such orders as may be made thereunder by the Governor-in-

Council for the transfer of services from the central Government to the

Municipal Council, there should be no special powers reserved either to

the Governor or to the Legislature which would have the effect of

detracting from the powers, the authority, and the responsibility of the

Municipal body.

My own view is that it is of great importance that the fullest

responsibility should be exercised by the Municipality within its allotted

sphere and that it should have the most complete control over its own

affairs. I recommend therefore that no power either of veto or of

certification should be reserved to the Governor or to the Governor-in-

Council, and that the regulations, rules and by-laws of the Council shall

not be subject to the provisions as to laying on the table of the

Legislative Council or to the general powers of the Governor-in-Council

contained in sections 40 and 41 of the Interpretation Ordinance, 1911.

It is a corollary of this proposal that the constitution of the

Municipality should be framed in such a manner as clearly to preclude it

from engaging in any form of activity which is not within its sphere.

If the above recommendation is accepted there will nevertheless

In the first remain the possibility of a certain measure of control.

place the validity of the Council's by-laws and the constitutional

character of its actions will be liable to be challenged in a Court of Law.

Secondly, if the Municipal Council enactment provides, as I have suggested

central Government to the above, that the transfer of services from the

Municipal Council shall be effected by means of Orders made by the

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