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Member presiding shall have an original vote in common with the other Members of the Council, as also a casting vote, if upon any question the votes shall be equal."
In fact, the Legislative Council, as at present con- stituted, though consisting numerically of 14 Members, simply carries into effect the individual will and judgment of the Governor or other Presiding Officer.
4. Whilst Your Petitioners are fully conscious of the ex- tremely serious and engrossing nature of the present War, they nevertheless venture humbly to submit that the above defects in the purely internal and domestic Constitution of this Colony (which can readily be rectified by amending the Royal Instruc- tions) call for some remedy and they conclude by most earnestly assuring His Majesty of their heartfelt loyalty and devotion.
Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray:-
1.-That there may be 4 Unofficial Members on the Executive Council instead of 2, and that the 2 additional Members may be elected, one of them by the Chamber of Commerce and the other of them by the Non-Official Justices of the Peace, and that any future vacancies on that Council may be filled by election by one of those bodies instead of by Govern- ment Nomination.
2.-That all the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council (other than the Chinese Members) may be elected, half of them by the Chamber of Commerce and half of them by the Non-Official Justices of the Peace.
3. That the number of Unofficial Members on the Legislative Council may be increased from 6 to 10.
And Your Petitioners will ever pray, etc.
Dated the 19th day of January 1816
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