TNAG-0012-FCO40-48-Kowloon-disturbances-1967 — Page 99

than British subjects, have been born there.

But do you confine

your electorate to British people or not? Is it right to allow

aliens to have a vote in legislature?

There is no problem in local authorities.

You allow

aliens to vote for local authorities.

This is one of the

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problems we have, quite apart from dangers of nationalist

communists voting and all the rest of it.

A possibility I thought about, I have never announced

it, or said anything about it in Hong Kong, except to very few

people, is if we could get decent elected local authorities,

then one might be able to use local members from elected

bodies as appointed members of the Legislative Council.

Chinese do not want it. Let me assure you of that. This is a

pure Western idea.

Western?

The

QUESTION: Groups like the Reform Group are more

'SIR DAVID TRENCH: They are; very high proportion

of Westerners in it, and of course highly westernised Chinese.

QUESTION: I remember a few months or years ago

there was some discussion here about the alleged malpractices.

in the police force. Has there been any further discussion

of this? Has that been proved or disproved?

SIR DAVID TRENCH: Entirely disproved. No evidence

at all. No police force in the world could entirely prove

In a big force there are a certain number of

;

completely pure.

bad eggs in it. Ours is like any others. The level of

corruption in our police force compares very favourably indeed

with any police force anywhere, including here.

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QUESTION: What in financial and economic terms is

the benefit to China of a stable and prosperous Hong Kong?

£200 million sterling in foreign

SIR DAVID TRENCH:

exchange is about the figure.

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