CONFIDENTIAL
12.
has been explored but the plain fact is that this method
is unlikely to throw up any very different candidates.
(c) The nomination to Legislative Council of elected Urban
Council Members; this might seen to be a possible prospect.
However, the attitude of the Reform Club has so far been
equivocal and the Civic Association has indicated that
the Urban Council should have the right to select its
members for service on the legislature. There are fears
that this arrangement might import "national politics"
into the Urban Council elections, But it romeins one of
the more interesting possibilitics and would perhaps be
worth closer consideration, particularly then local
government has been re-organised.
Demands have been expressed from time to time for the election of
two members to the Legislative Council. To yield to this would involve,
only in a lesser degree, the dangers foreseen in paragraph 7 above, and
would certainly lead to subsequent demands for an increased number of
elected nenbors which it would be virtually impossible to resist. Such a
development would be unacceptable to Communist China.
13.
It is in the sphoro of local government (Background Notes No. 4) that
the possibilities of development scen to offer not only sono chance of
practical success but also a form of safety valve capable of releasing
some of the pressure for constitutional reform.
140 There is a formidable array of Advisory Committees, Boards and
"Working Parties" in Hong Kong, all taking their place in the machinery
of government. This is one way in which the Government has taken
representative public opinion into its counsels and kept in touch with it.
But there are clear limits, in terms of the efficient and speedy conduct
of Government business, to the use of these methods of consultation.
CONFIDENTIAL
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