CO537-6046 — Page 320

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The proposals for the election of an unofficial majority, not on a British franchise, but by various electing bodies in Hong Kong which would include. Chinese as well as British electors but would result in a pretty safe body of unofficials, with the possible exception of the member elected by and from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, are, I think, felt by ourselves as well as by the Governor, to be a much sounder Safer proposition than his previous proposal.

The Governor has, in fact, tried these new proposals

out very briefly with the unofficial members of the Executive Council and they are now being circulated to the Executive Council. It should be noted that in addition to the electing bodies suggested in the proposals at (23), the Governor, at the suggestion of Sir Arthur Morse, thought that the Social Welfare Associations should also be asked to elect a member. Though this proposal might be not altogether free from difficulty, the Governor thought it was worth pursuing, in which case the number of nominated unofficials might have to be reduced to 3.

1

The Governor agreed that all elected members must be British subjects though electing bodies would include non- British subjects, and it was felt that it would be possible to present the new proposals at the Hong Kong end providing an enlargement of the franchise which would have originally been restricted to British subjects only.

We discussed the possibility, in order to secure the position still further, of increasing the official side to an extent which would leave an unofficial majority of only 1. That majority could be outvoted by the Governor using his origi- nal and casting vote. As to this, see 'Y' on page 2 of (25) and the first paragraph on page 3. (The Governor agrees in principle that election by the various electing bodies should be by secret ballot),

The question of the Governor continuing to preside over the Legislative Council, which is inherent in his new proposals, was also discussed. Sir A. Grantham thought that it was quite essential that in the initial stages of the new Constitution the Governor should continue to preside (see 'Z' on page 3 of the note), though if the new Constitution worked well, it might be possible, at some future date, to amend the constitutional instruments to make other provision.. He did not, however, favour making provision for an alternative President at this stage, sven

Mauritiis] this might provide

of Experimenting with com alternatii prensent. The proposals for modifying the present Urban District Council were also considered (see the concluding paragraphs of the note). In general there did not appear to be any objection to them.

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I send this on urgently now so that Sir C. Jeffries should have an opportunity of seeing it before Monday morning's discussion with the Governor.

23/6.

23. 6. 50

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