4. Grantham was anxious, however, that you should have an opportunity of seeing this despatch in draft in case you had any suggestions for improving it for public consumption in Hong Kong and I enclose a copy herewith. Its wording has been very carefully considered from the point of view of susceptibilities at this end in Parliament and elsewhere, and also from the point of view of possible repercussions in Singapore when it is published, since, as you know, there has been great insistence there that the electorate must be restricted to British subjects, which would not be the case in Hong Kong under Grantham's latest proposals. The wording of the despatch has therefore been very carefully framed to keep this point as far as possible in the background. We here, of course, appreciate that the position in Hong Kong is quite different to that in Singapore, but we wish to avoid as far as possibl● making any difficulty in that Colony.
5. You will see from the draft despatch that one of the principal alterations which we have suggested in the proposals is the reintroduction of the elective system for the Urban District Council and the extension of that system in regard to membership of that Council, as well as the desirability of the Urban Council being one of the electing bodies for membership of the Legislative Council.
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6. You will also note the Secretary of State's expressed desire to see the franchise of the Urban District Council extended to include British subjects not at present qualifying under the provisions of Section 3 of Ordinance No. 7 of 1935. This is a point to which the Secretary of State has, in the discussions with us, attached considerable importance. He has noted that the 1949 proposals would have provided a vote for all persons who were prepared to declare themselves British subjects, whereas under the latest proposals votes would be given to Chinese while
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