CO129-615-6 Royal Institute of International Affairs- paper on future of Hong Kong 30-12-1947 - 8-1-1948 — Page 6

Hong Kong

For a proper consideration of the problem of East

Asia's requirements for efficient public administration

it will be well to note the "sui generis" nature of the

Colony of Hong Kong. The Atlantic Charter agrees to

the restoration of sovereign rights and self-government

to all who have been forcibly derived of these. But

for half a century before this had been enunciated

India and Burma and eylon had begun to build up

autochthonous civil services on a gradually expanding

acalo; and the final inevitable stage of Dominion

status or complete independence has presumably been

easy enough from the point of view of administrative

efficiency.

Whatever the ethics of the seizure in 1841 of

the barren island of Hong Kong, where the inordinate

restraints on trade practised at Canton could be

Overcome and where, in the words of the Treaty,

'ships could be careened and merchandise stored",

the words of the Charter are clearly per B@

inapplicable.

or was the principle affected when,

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