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have invariably given the full est consideration to the viewe of the unofficial members and have refrained from pressing proposals to which they were opposed and an examination of the records of the Council for many years past shows that, in so doing, I am merely following the policy adopted by my predecessors. There is therefore no reason for the demand for an unofficial majority and if it is conceded I do not see how it will be possible to justify the placing of the supreme power in the hands of an unofficial body the majority of whose members represent a numerically insignificant proportion of the population. Logically the demand leads straight to the establishment of a majority of Chinese members a result which neither I nor the petitioners would contemplate with equanimity.
8.
I have proposed above that the number of unofficial members should be raised to nine, six Europeans and three Chinese (one of whom shoul as a matter of practice be a member of the powerful Eurasian community). If this change is made, I should prefer the number of officials to be ten not including the Governor, in order that the Governor may not be required to vote; but I have no real objection to the numbers on both sides being fixed at nine, leaving the Governor to exercise his vote in the
case of an equal division.
9.
I come now, however, to a consideration of
the reasons, to which I alluded in paragraph 5 as causing me to view with misgiving the introduction at the present time
of an electoral system for non-Chinese members. I am afraid
that it would cause considerable trouble in the Chinese
community. At present the Chinese members are nominated
by the Governor and I do not think that any responsible
Chinese could be found to advocate the adoption of any other
method.
Unfortunately, the Chinese community, like
all others, contains its irresponsible elements and it is
only
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