CO129-340 - Governor Nathan Acting Governor May - 1907 [4-6] — Page 469

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It is in fact not peculiar to the Crown Colony system, it is of the essence of all administration that the paid supporters or components of a government should either vote for and, when necessary, speak for the settled policy of the government, or else resign their places.

13. The fourth and fifth claims are to the effect that the Council, or rather the elected majority in the Council, should have complete control over local expenditure and the management of local affairs.

There is point, no doubt, in these contentions, in that the municipal institutions, which are to be found in Ceylon and the Straits Settlements, do not exist in Hongkong; but the difficulty at Hongkong is, and must be, to draw a line between matters which might be entrusted to a municipal Council and the business which must be reserved for the Colonial Government. In saying this, I am aware that possibly, or even probably, a municipality would not meet the aspirations of the petitioners, and that they may place a wider construction upon the terms "local expenditure" and "local affairs" than I have placed upon them.

14. One of the difficulties with which I am met in dealing with this petition arises from the fact that the words employed require to be more accurately defined before their meaning and the intention with which they are used can be fully gauged.

This criticism especially applies to the last in the list of the petitioners' claims, viz.:- that