318
for Departmental Brüß file pl.
119.
RECEIVED IN
ARCHNICAL.63]
NOTE FOR MINISTER OF STATE
HONG KONG
PARO
Constitution
Hong Kong is administered by the Governor,
assisted by entirely nominated Executive and Legislative
Councils, over which the Governor presides.
The Executive Council at present consists of
five ex officio members and one official member, together
with eight unofficial members. The Governor is required
to consult with the Executive Council save where matters
are unimportant or too urgent. He may act contrary to
the advice given by the Council, but in such cases must
report fully to the Secretary of State.
The Legislative Council consists of 12 official
The Governor,
and 13 unofficial members (all nominated).
as President, has an original and a casting vote. One
of the unofficials is nominated by the Justices of the
Peace and one by the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce.
Membership of the Council has been limited in practice to
British subjects, although it is not so limited by the
constitutional instruments.
Constitutional Reform in Hong Kong was considered
after the war but was not implemented, partly because of
the unsettled conditions in the Far East and partly
because of the difficulty of devising a suitable electoral
system for a Colony ix in which much of the population at
that time was not ordinarily resident and the many residents
were not British subjects. In contrast to the general
/post-war
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