CO537-2188 — Page 192

54145/4/47.

Dear Scott,

Colonial office,

Downing Street,

S. W. 1.

25th June, 1947.

81

Constitutional changes in Hong Kong.

It is, I am afraid, necessary for us to trouble you with yet a further draft of our Hong Kong Constitution despatch. We discuesed on Monday with Bir Mark Young at some length the draft enclosed in my letter to Kitson of the 18th June, and as a result of that discussion have incorporated in the draft a fair number of amendments. These are now shown as sidelined passages in the revised version enclosed with this letter.

Those

The amendments which are likely to be of most interest to the Foreign Office are those now shown in paragraphs 3(a) 3(b), 3(c) and 3(f). to paragraphs 3(a) and 3(f) are, I think, self- explanatory. The reason for including the new paragraphs 3(b) and 3() is that it transpired in our discussion with Sir Mark Young that the last paragraph of his secret telegram No. 817 of the 13th May was received here corrupt, and that he is op osed to the nation of making any amendments at this stage to his despatch No. 145 of 22nd October, 1946, prior to its publication. We have naturally agreed to disregard entirely the suggestions in our telegram to Hong Kong No. 959 of the 16th June, but we shall now have to deal in our open despatch with the proposal that there should be differentiation as between non-

A. L. SCOTT, ESQ.

British