CO129-609-2 Future policy- Municipal Council Ordinance 19-6-1947 - 24-11-1947 — Page 3

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Mr. Roberts-Wray

You will remember that when Mr. Hazlerigg came to the Colonial Office at the end of May, to discuss with us certain points in connection with the franchise in Hong Kong, he said he thought it was a great pity we had not had copies of the first drafts of the Ordinances which he had prepared. He therefore asked Mr. MacDougall to send us copies: these were accordingly sent to us under cover of the letter at No.1. They arrived, however,

after we had settled the terms of the S. of S.'s open despatch to Hong Kong, and were not therefore of/immediate use to us which Mr. Hazlerigg had foreseen.

2. Mr. MacDougall's covering letter says that a substantial number of amendments to these drafts are now being inserted into the Bills, and for this reason, as we are so hard-pressed in the Department at present, as I am sure you are, I feel there is little point in our studying these drafts. We should only have to go over all the same ground on receipt of the Bills, and I don't think there would be any justification in thus duplicating the work. I would, therefore, suggest that

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Mr. Mayle should reply to Mr. MacDougall as in draft letter opposite.

3. At the same time we ought, I think, to refer to the point made by Sir A. Grantham before his departure which I have noted in paragraph 2 of my minute of 28th July above. Sir A. Grantham said he would take up on his arrival in Hong Kong the question of inserting some such provision in the Hong Kong Ordinances. Having re-read paragraph 42 of Sir Mark Young's despatch No. 145 of the 22nd October, a copy of which is attached loose in the file, I am not at all sure that Sir M. Young would have liked a provision on these lines. The nearest thing to it in his despatch is the suggestion that it would always be open to the Governor-in-Council to make an Order restoring fo the Central Government responsibility for any service or services which had previously been delegated by an Order of the Governor-in-Council to the Municipal Council. He recommended, however, that the prior sanction of the Secretary of State should be obtained before any such rescinding Order were made by the Governor-in-Council. In paragraph 3(o) of our despatch No. 222 of the 3rd July (copy also loose in the file) we reserved for further examination the question whether or not the affairs of the Municipal Council should be subject to any form of external control. My view is that, if Sir A. Grantham feels it to be both necessary, at this stage, and politically feasible, to include in the Municipal Council Ordinance a provision enabling the Governor-in-Council in certain circumstances to re-assume certain or all of the functions of the Municipal Council, then we need not raise objection from here. At all events, I think we might let Sir A. Grantham have a copy of the Jamaica Ordinance, together with copies of the relevant Gold Coast and Ceylon Ordinances. I doubt whether the other Ordinances

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