Page 15 limited franchise (some 21,000 voters regiered though many more are eligible, and only 5,300 voted in the 1963 elections) there is at least some breath of popular expression here. I think however that this suggestion might be further examined by the new Governor in the course of the review of the functions and franhhise of the Urgan Council that the Governor proposes.
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6. I would also prefer to defer any specific announcement of an increase in the Urban Council (which in any case would not be effective until 1 April 1965) pending a wider investigation. The whole question of the Council needs careful thinking out, particularly in view of the rapid development of new large townships in the New Territories. The Governor may argue that it would be impolitic to announce such a review and that it would be better carried out in the bureaucratic recesses of the Secretariat. But even if it does not prove possible to make any substantial changes in the scope of the Urban Council - and I recognise the difficulty of transferring major subjects auch as education to it there is substantial pressure from the Council itself for a review, and I doubt if there is much to be gained by not saying publicly that it is to be undertaken.
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7. Any increase in the Legislative Council will require an amendment to the present Royal Instructions. This amendment, which is a very simple one, will I think have to be by Order-in- Council. This point is being looked into by the Legal Advisers separately. The Urban Council is constituted by local ordinance.
8: I have set out my views in the draft telegram opposite.
Page 15
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P.T.O
Sir John Martin
✓
FM.
9 March 1964
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