Sessional_Paper_1916 — Page 66

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From the same Census the following figures in respect of the Civil population in 1911 are deduced :-

(a.) Male adult British subjects of Portuguese race,

370

(b.) Male adult British subjects of Indian race (exclusive

of Police, Gaol Staff and Watchmen),

357

.21,000

(c.) Male adult British subjects of Chinese race (i.e.

Chinese born in Hongkong),

Note to (c)-Of these it is calculated that

2,000 are men of good education the majority of whom speak English.

It is proposed by the Petitioners that the franchise should be given to the Members of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce who number 150 composed as follows:-

British,...

106 members.

French,

Dutch,

4

11

American,.

4

Japanese,

6

11

Chinese,

3

11

British Indian,.

15

Portuguese,

4

21

Swedish,

1

Norwegian,

1

งง

Belgian,

1

19

Russian,

150 members.

(Note: Of these about 25 are not even.

British subjects);

and to the Un-official Justices of the Peace who are all British subjects but whose number is limited to 120.

6. I will turn now to the covering letter which Mr. Pollock has addressed to you.

I do not know how far Mr. Pollock represents in this letter the view of the signatories of the Petitioners. But it is obvious that he can have no authority for claiming that in signing the Petition these gentlemen committed themselves to anything more than their individual and personal opinions, and I am quite sure that they themselves would not claim more than this. Nobody knows better than the learned Counsel that a Director or a whole Board of Directors can only speak for a Public Company after obtaining the approval of a Meeting of Share- holders held in pursuance of a notice which has stated that such approval would be asked for. The signatures to the Petition do not therefore in any way represent the long list of Commercial an 1 In lustrial Companies set out in the letter.

On the other hand it is remarkable that two out of the four European Un- official Members of the Legislative Council have not signed the l'etition; that the two Chinese Un-official Members who represent one of the largest Commercial interests in the Colony-that of the Chinese Community-declined the overtures made to them, as I am assured, on two occasions with a view to obtaining their and other Chinese signatures; that the Managers of the two greatest European Mercantile interests in the Colony-the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corpora- tion and the Firm of Messrs. Butterfield and Swire have declined to lend even their personal support to the Petition; that Sir Paul Chater, C.M.G., Un-official Member of the Executive Council, and Mr. E. H. Sharp, K.C., who has been appointed to be an Un-official Member of that Council since the Petition was launched, have likewise refrained from supporting it; and finally that the most important and influential Public Body in the Colony the Hongkong General