TNAG-0226-FCO40-262-Amendments-to-Letters-Patent-and-Royal-Instructions-of-Hong--1971 — Page 69

AL SECRETARIAT FILE

GR 2/3/4356/46 II

No:

900

1

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONG KONG.

/ August 1970

See para 7 of (15) on HUK. 1/3

Sir,

I have the honour to forward for your consideration drafts of certain amendments to the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions of Hong Kong.

2.

The main proposal is in connection with Clause III of the Royal Instructions, which provides for the provisional appointment of members of the Executive Council. The existing Clause III specifies the various circumstances in which provisional appointments may be made, and limits the power accordingly. It is proposed to amend the clause so as to enable a provisional appoint- ment to be made to fill a vacancy in any circumstances, and not merely in those now listed. This will make the wording of the Clause similar to that of Clause XIV providing for the provisional appointment of members of the Legislative Council: and it will be recalled that the lack of this provision caused some difficulty recently.

1970. 3.

The opportunity has been taken to propose other minor amendments to the constitutional instruments. The reasons for these are as follows :-

A. Royal Instructions

7

=6 AUG 1970

HKK1/24

(i) Clause XIII

Ex officio members of the Legislative Council are referred to in Clauses XIV and XXIII, but are not defined. Ex officio members of the Executive Council are defined in Clause II, and Clause VIII(3)(a) indicates that the expression normally includes the Commander British Forces. However, this definition is not applicable to ex officio members of the Legislative Council, as the Commander British Forces is no longer a member of Legislative Council. Accordingly the proposed amendment will define the expression ex officio members of the Legislative Council.

(ii) Clause XXIX

The proposed amendment will revoke the existing provision which requires a complete collection of all Ordinances to be published every year. Since Hong Kong now has a loose- leaf system, a collection of all Ordinances published during the previous year is not now published and is not needed.

The Right Honourable Sir Alec Douglas-Home, K.T., P.C.,

D.L., M.P.

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