5
accepting the view put forward by Dr. Hall.
The rest of their comments strike me as not being on the whole exactly fair to Sir David Owen. They point to the need of long scale planning as being a necessary part of the work of the Port Trust but it will be seen from the note to para. 83(e) of his report that he did not intend his list of matters over which the Port Trust would have control to be an exclusive one, and that additions could be made to their functions if the practical working of the Authority suggested that they were required. The question of long scale planning could be kept in view in this way. Similarly their suggestion that reclamation of further areas should be considered from the point of view of the citizens as a whole is supported by Sir David Owen's report. He explicitly points out that land reclamation should not be included among the duties of the Port Trust, but that it should be undertaken by Government who would no doubt give full consideration to the factors suggested in the Bishop's comments.
TWO
To return to the Governor's despatch, it will be seen that the Executive Council by a majority accepted Sir David Owen's principal proposals. Official Members of it thought that the Harbour Trust should be entrusted to a full Government Department. but Sir David Owen himself is rather caustic on this possibility, and recent experience with extended administration in Hong Kong by Government Department has not been such as to give one an excessively men offensic opinion of the possibility of Government taking over harbour administration with any efficiency.
The majority in accepting the report suggested various slight departures from Sir Davin Owen's recommendations, i.e.
(1) As I suggested in my minute of 15th July above they were not ready to support his recommendation that room for a.Naval representative should be found among the three "official members". It has now been suggested that the Naval representative on the Trust should be in addition to these three, but should only possess advisory powers. This will not affect the voting balance of the Trust, and will leave the majority unofficials. The Commodore-in-Charge is said to have seen the report, but we are not told whether
A. the Executive Council's recommendation on this point
would in fact be acceptable to the Naval authorities. This, I suggest, can be left for consultation between
the Government and the local Naval authorities in the first place. rather than that we should take it up direct with the Admiralty.
(2) The Executive Council does not advise the appointment of the Trust on an experimental basis or for an experimental period. Sir David Owen included this recommendation in his report to allay apprehension in "certain quarters", presumably among those merchants who were frightened that any Port Trust would raise harbour costs. If the Unofficials in the Executive Council, after consideration of the views of the Chamber of Commerce etc., are ready to drop this recommendation, the S. of S. need not, I submit, demur from their proposal. The alternative suggestion that the Chairman-to-be of the Trust should spend a preparatory time in the Colony before his actual appointment will not, of course, entirely meet the point made by Sir David Owen.
(3) The Executive Council suggest that the list of matters over which the Trust would have control should not be regarded as exclusive. This seems to be in
accordance
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