TNAG-0327-FCO40-363-History-of-constitution-of-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1972 — Page 67

• CONFIDENTIAL

5.

The crunch will come at the end of this year, or early next year, when the sitting J.P. member, John Browne, whose term I propose to extend on 1st July, will want to resign before leaving the Colony. My present plan is then, without going through the conventional form, to nominate Mr. Sayer, new head of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, to succeed him. He happens to be a J.P. and it would be hard for anybody, whether J.P. or not to represent he had a better claim.

12.

You might like to have a word with Hugh Norman-Walker about this. The principal prospect of trouble comes from the possibility of some personally interested individual, such as Mr. Vine (last para, Page 4 of my letter of 19 May) kicking over the traces and bringing the issue into public. But before the autumn there ought to be plenty of time to guage the likelihood of this and whether it represents a serious objection. The Chamber, I am sure, can be managed quietly. Meanwhile in view of the unanimity of advice from unofficial members of Ex. Co. (Sir Douglas Clague excepted who has been silent as Vine's employer or absent from the Colony), I would expect that the establishment machine will quietly assert itself to forestall anything unseemly.

13.

I might add that the importance and difficulty of this rather minor bit of tidying up seems vastly inflated when it is all put down in writing; nevertheless it is just possible that it could lead to a P.Q. or letter to the Secretary of State, so it is as well to be sure of our ground.

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CONFIDENTIAL