TNAG-0290-FCO40-326-Appointments-to-membership-of-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Ko-1971 — Page 23

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member even if the movement could

produce a suitable candidate. Neverthe-

less, if the practice of paying

Legislative Council members were adopted

(see (a) below) there might well be

greater scope for extending the basis of

selection to fields such as those

mentioned above.

(a) Unofficial Members of the Executive and

Legislative Councils have never been paid

for their services as such: and in the

view of the Governor the introduction of

such a system would tend to cause people

to doubt whether they were disinterested.

However, this argument does not appear to

be wholly conclusive and it is open to

question whether the present membership

of the two Councils is in fact wholly

It is also for

disinterested.

consideration whether the advantages

which might be derived from such a

system would not outweigh its

disadvantages.

It is difficult to

accept that in a community such as that

of Hong Kong there does not exist a

sufficient number of people of integrity,

ability and independent outlook to

provide a greater field of selection for

appointment to the Legislative Council

than has hitherto been tapped.

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