TNAG-0731-FCO40-935-Appointments-to-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 139

Mr Quantrill

Quaxtrill

CONFIDENTIAL

IN:

Reference

AKK.011/5

1973

RY

ten

Lideal

IDEAL COMPOSITION OF UMELCO

1.

I have serious reservations about any attempt to try and lay down an ideal format for UMELCO by profession or occupation of its members. It would be relatively easy to produce a list of members attractive on paper but either extremely radical or extremely conservative. What is clearly most important is to choose the right sort of person and here,of course, we come up against the continuing problem of identifying such a person.

2. Having said this, I accept the need for UMELCO to appear to be representative. As I see it," the radical solution would be for three separate and equal groups within UMELCO: business and industry, workers representatives and the professions. The last named would cover the law, the church, the media, education, medicine and social services. Such an arrangement would hopefully reduce considerably the possibility of a preponderance of extremists.

3. Such an arrangement would also inevitably require a number of new faces appointed to UMELCO and this process in itself, if it were practical, would be worthwhile.

CODE 18-77

4 April 1978

Jeels 12/4

Thompson

Hong Kong & General Department K 270 Ext 4069

You will wish to see this before you go to Hong Kong, though I doubt if it is something on which we need to reach instant decisions - the next stage is perhaps to put the whole thing to the Governor, reminding him that this is a subject which causes probably disproportionate criticion and enlisting his help in preparing a broadly agreed pattern for what we should be aiming for. At least then we shall have some sort of yard- stick for deciding whether criticism is justified or not. At the

CONFIDENTIAL

moment