CO129-492 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1925 [12] - 1926 [1-5] — Page 606

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times of the past year I cannot but think that the presence of one of them on the Executive Council

would have detracted from the freedom and frankness

of discussion and so diminished the value of that

body's deliberations. Of course the Chinese have

something to contribute, especially to political questions, but they can always be consulted outside

the Council and their contributions seem hardly

likely to compensate for the additional strain which

the presence of their representative would impose

about non-political questions, such as the Peak, where on the Council". And what purely racial distinctions

arise? The preservation of secret and confidential

matter is another consideration which carmot be ignored.

At the moment the Governor can at least choose what

he will confide to the Chinese: appoint one to the

Executive Council and he must take the risk of

confiding everything.

It may be said that these are matters for

the Governor to consider, that he must necessarily

be the best judge, and that if he is willing to

take the risk it is not for us to stand in the way ·

There is a good deal of force in this argument but one naturally hesitates before entering into a permanent commitment and I cannot help feeling that

the Governor may have been largely influenced by the

political situation which is definitely more

promising to-day than it was a fortnight ago.

Negotiations with the Canton Government are about

to be resumed and there is reasonable ground for hope

that normal relations with Canton will shortly be

restored. In these circumstances it may well be

that the cityer desirability of creating

by tucany of los formos sut a good political effect is less strong as it is

less

very poorly in 1922 atrike.

C

Fir E. Stubbs was

ven stronger. "The eneral indifference of the community to ell matters of public lifeis

less urgent. (In this connection it may be

recently

observed that commenting on the demands of

the Canton Strike Committee for Chinese elective

representation on the Legislative Council the Governor endorsed Sir E.Stubbs' view that

"The vast majority of the Chinese teke no

interest in such matters". From this it may

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be inferred that the pressure if any for increased representation must come from a very

lmost unbelievable." small minority.)

50384/20

There is another aspect of this

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namely

586

proposal which merits consideration

the possibility that any such concession in Hongkong will be followed by an agitation

for a similar concession in the Straits

Settlements. And the case in the Straits

Settlements might even be stronger owing to the

greater distance from China and to the fact that

there now existe a class of Chinese who have

been Straits-born for generations and who se

loyalty to the Colony is indisputable. An

argument on which we might rely for differentiation

between Straits Settlements and Hongkong is that

in Hongkong there is no Municipality i.e. that

the Legislative and Executive Councils fulfil

also the functions of a municipal body, and

that the Chinese have therefore an additional

claim to representation. But I doubt if this

would be convincing.

In any case I do not think that

it would be advisable to assent to this proposal

without first warning Sir L. Guillemard, and obtaining further information from Sir C.Clementi, and I. Bubmit the attached drafts for consideration. I

i

would not say anything to Foreign Office at

this