1
442
THE MILITARY CONTRIBUTION.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
COUNCIL
(5th December.)
December 9, 1896.
HEAD upon his unofficial col he also says that for himse to consider as confiden tion so marked, which very creditable to appears to be in agreeme HEAD. The Hon. C.P CHA unofficial member, in rebu
agues, but
330
TE enior
inter
ate,
of secret communications, said that he had never received any communication from the GOVERNMENT AND THE UN- Government which he had not immediately OFFICIAL MEMBERS OF
placed before his colleagues. But that is not the question. The allegation was not that the Government communicated privately with Mr. CHATER as an in- dividual, but that it communicated privately with the unofficial members as a body, and thus forestalled the public discussion in open Council of the questions to which the com mugications referred. This was done with reference to the proposed reconstitution of the Sanitary Board, and, according to pretation of the word "public" and it has been done in the case of the proposal to make the present temporary scale of light dues permanent. His Excellency says, in relation to the latter question, that the cor- respondence was perfectly public, so public that it might have been plastered on all the walls of all the houses in Hongkong, as far as he is concerned. But the factore mains that it was not plastered on all the walls of all the houses, but, on the contrary, Dr. Ho Kai says that when the unofficial members met to consider the communication addressed to the senior unofficial member it was at once. explained to them that the envelope was marked “confidential. would not be disposed to lay much stress on that, because it might have been – so marked by a clerk in the Colonial Secré- tary's office as a matter of routine and without special instructions; but it would certainly have been better if the Govern ment had addressed its inquiries on the subject of light dues to the Chamber of Commerce and left the unofficial members free to discuss it, when it came on in open Council, without having them bound down by a declaration of opinion obtained from them beforehand.
a pity the officials attempted to add any- thing to it. The Bill will of course pass The official members of Council had of through its remaining stages and the result course no choice but to vote for the first will be that Hongkong will, in proportion reading of the Military Contribution Bill to its population and revenue, contribute to on Thursday, but those of them who spoke the cost of Imperial defence on a higher upon the subject would better have pre-scale than any other portion of Her Ma served their reputation as men of common jesty's dominions outside the United King- sense had they remained silent. The dom. Acting Attorney-General's aspersions on the patriotism of the unofficial members were THE peculiarly unfortunate. The question of patriotism does not enter into the matter at all; it is a simple case of the adjustment of accounts, to be settled with as little appeal to sentiment as a disputed interest account The question of private, communications between a banker and his customer. The between the Government and the unofficial proposition that the colony may justly be members of the Legislative Council and called upon to contribute to the cost of the consideration of public questions by the Imperial defence is not now in dispute; the unofficials in secret conclave has received colony is willing to contribute, and to con- ventilation by a healthy though apparently tribute its rightful quota, but there is a rather biting breeze in the shape of a letter dispute as to how the amount should be from the Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD to the arrived at. When Mr. POLLOCK retires from Governor and the discussion thereupon at his labours in the Far East and enjoys the Thursday's meeting of the Council. Mr. privilege of paying income tax in the old WHITEHEAD objects to having cut and dried country we venture to say his patriotism decisions arrived at before the subjects out of will not run to the length of paying upon a which they arise come up for discussion higher scale than that to which he is legally at the open meetings of Council; and in liable. The position of the unofficial mem- that the hon. gentleman is quite right, bers with regard to the imperial taxation speaking generally. The subject, however, is levied on the income of the colony is not one on which a strict rule can precisely analagous, except that inasmuch be, laid down, for as Mr. WHITEHEAD as they occupy a fiduciary position it is more himself admits in his letter, there may incumbent upon them to guard the interests be occasions when private and confidential of their constituents than if they were communications may be rightly entertained. simply dealing with their own money. If between the Government and the unofficials. the Empire were in difficulties, the treasury The unofficials have sometimes, for instance, empty, and the raising of a patriotic fund been consulted as to the letting of the opium by the generosity of Her Majesty's sub- farm, and a matter of that kind could not jects necessary, neither the unofficial mem- safely be discussed otherwise than con- bers of Council in particular nor the fidentially. Other cases in which it might community of Hongkong in general would be desirable for the Governor to seek the be backward in putting their bands in their advice of the unofficials -privately, and for pockets, but to make any appeal to patri- the unofficials to give their advice, will otic feeling in connection with such a readily occur to the reader. On examina- prosaic subject as the military contribution tion it will be found that most of these cases is absurd. The unofficial members claim refer to executive rather than to legislative that the colony is being called upon to pay measures, but even in regard to the latter sup- on a higher scale than is right, and as a case positions cases might be cited, as, for instance, in point they refer to the neighbouring a case in which, in view of political move- colony of Singapore, and contend that this ments in the neighbourhood, it might become colony ought to be treated on the same basis. necessary to pass a Bill for the safety of the If any arguments could be brought forward colony or the preservation of the peace with- to show that it ought to be treated on a out a public disclosure of all the information different basis it would have been interest in the possession of the Government. Such ing to hear them, but nothing of that kind cases as these, however, may be regarded as was attempted. The Hon. F. H. May re- the exceptions that prove the rule, and there ferred to Singapore, it is true, but, put tersely, can be no question that all subjects of or his argument was simply this, that if the dinary legislation ought to be dealt with in colony were taxed on the same scale as public instead of deciding them in private Singapore it would pay less than under the and merely registering the decisions pro scale imposed by the Bill, that if it pays forma in public. The question of permanently less it won't pay so much, and that there- imposing heavy light dues on shipping enter- fore the Bill should be passed. To arguing the port, for instance, is one that should ment of that kind a serious reply is in the nature of the case impossible. Then the Colonial Secretary assures us that the leading members of the community desire to see the colony taxed on the higher scale. As to that we can only express an opinion that the hon. gentleman must have received an entirely wrong im- pression of the views communicated to him. The Governor in his opening speech did not attempt to argue the question, but contented himself with saying that he could hold out no hope that the request of the unofficial members that the contribution might be again fixed at the former figure of £40,000 would be acceded to and that he had no option therefore but to ask the Council to pass the Bill into law and so finally settle the much vexed question of the military "Contribution. That was really all there was be said in favour of the Bill and it is
be discussed in the fullest and most open manner, and the unofficial members would have acted more prudently if, when the matter was referred to them privately, they had suggested that the opinion of the Chamber of Commerce should be taken, instead of at once depriving themselves of all liberty of action in the matter by giving a decided opinion of their own arrived at in secret conclave. The Governor says that the correspondence in this case was "perfectly public," but with all respect we venture to suggest that His Excellency can hardly have weighed the precise meaning of those words, because the Hon. Ho KAI says the communication was marked "con- fidential," and it is certain that the public did not know of the correspondence till it was published by Mr. WHITEHEAD. The Hon. Ho Kar expressed indignation at what he termed the "slur" cast by Mr. WHITE-
(7th December.)
We
The facts with reference to the communi- cation of the Government to the unofficial members of Council on the subject of the light dues are as follow: The Governor's des- patch to the senior unofficial member was not marked either "confidential” or “private. The Hon. C. P. CHATER on receiving it. circulated it to the other unofficial members in a cover marked "private," his reason for doing so, as he has explained to us, being that he desired it should be opened by the gentlemen to whom it was addressed and not by their clerks as in the case of an ordinary business communication marking of the cover “private” - was not intended to convey the meaning that the contents were to be regarded as con fidential. The cover was initialled in the usual way by the various addressees, resealed and passed on, but the Hon. T H. WHITEHEAD wrote on it the query,
.
the
took
Why mark this private me
When the meeting of the unofficial members t place Mr. CHATER, before the discussion of the subject matter of the communication commenced, explained his reason for mark ing the circulating cover
private" was agreed by all the members prese the communication was not of a nature and that they were consult their constitue it. It would see the Ho Kar's recoll fault when he said in Coun
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