CO129-453 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1919 [1-3] — Page 163

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Enclosure

5.

CHINESE GENERAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,

Hongkong, 6th. January, 1919.

154

A public meeting has been summoned by the Committee of the Hongkong Constitutional Reform Association

for the 9th. January, at which there will be submitted four

resolutions advocating the principle of election in place of nomination of Unofficial Members for the Legislative Council; an Unofficial majority on that Council; and an increase in

the number of Unofficial Membere thereof from six to eight.

Though the meeting convened is to be a

"public meeting", the wording of the proposed resolutions

leaves no doubt that they are not intended to apply to the

Chinese. This intentional exclusion of the Chinese from

participating in the privileges which the Association seeks

to secure, has caused uneasiness among the thinking section

of the Chinese Community; and in consequence of representa-

tione made to me as the Chairman of the Chinese General

Chamber of Commerce, I had an Extraordinary General Meeting

convened on the 27th. December to discuss the matter. A

large number of members representing all the important Chinese interests (including my Chinese colleague on the

Legislative Council, and representatives of the District

Watchmen, the Tung Wa and the Po Leung Kuk Committees)

attended; and the following resolutions were unanimously

passed:-

1.

2.

That in the opinion of this Meeting, the summons

to the "public meeting" convened by the Hongkong

Constitutional Reform Association does not extend

to the Chinese.

That this Meeting is of the opinion that, in the

event of the number of Unofficial Members of the

Legislative Council being increased, the number

of