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in proportion. As I have already observed, the vast majority of the Chinese take no interest in such matters, but there can be little doubt that, if the proportion of Chinese to non- Chinese members was reduced, the "politically-minded" would seize on the opportunity for agitation, which might have unpleasant consequences. I will not labour the point as you
will observe that the Constitutional Reform Association recognise in their proposals that the view that the existing proportion should be maintained is sound. The difficulty, however, is to find suitable Chinese members. The necessity of a thorough knowledge of English. rules out many of the most eligible candidates and it is by no means easy to find even two satisfactory representatives of the Chinese. One of the existing members is a Eurasian, who is, therefore, not highly
refer regarded by the more respectable Chinese who habitually to this class of person as "the Bastards", and when Mr. Lau Chu- pak recently went on leave I found it so hard to discover a suitable person to take his place that I eventually decided to leave the vacancy unfilled. The difficulty is, however, not insuperable: even if we have to be content with unsuitable persons at first, better men may be available later and I do not, therefore, strongly oppose the suggestion of nine unofficial members, though, apart from the question of the Chinese members, I do not feel assured that six really suit- able Europeans will be prepared to place their services at the disposal of the public.
I leave this matter to Your Lordship's
decision, with the request that if the number of the unofficial members is increased to nine, the number of the official members may also be increased to nine not including the Governor.
7.
The question then arises as to the manner
in which the unofficial members, whatever their number may be, should be selected. In the case of the Chinese members, there
can
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