51. Minuite to Mr Higher by divis took one's letter
from Gov. Henry Kony 5/6.
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Mr Wallace:
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Sir David Trench's letter at (E/51) and Sir John Martin's minute at (51): I agree that these recommendations are somewhat disappointing - a disappointment that the Governor obviously shares.
2. The present 8 unofficial members of Legislative Council are entirely drawn from the ranks of commerce, banking or law (commerce: Mr Ruttonjee, Mr R.C.Lee, Mr Knowles, Mr Gordon; banking: Mr P.F. Fung, Mr Li Fook Chu; law: Mr Y.K. Tan (also commerce), and Mr C.Y. Kwan). There is no representative of manufacturing industry, and the Governor's recommendation of Mr P.Y. Tang and Mr H.C. Fung is therefore to be welcomed. His remaining recommendations (Mr Y.C.Tse, Mr P.C.Woo and Mr K.Watson), whatever the merits of these individuals, do not at first sight give the broader based representation for which there has been pressure in Parliament and which was referred to in the Governor's statement of 26 March (X/ of (43)). As regards Mr Tse, we must I think accept the Governor's view that although he is no longer active in the Kaifong he will be publicly regarded as having been chosen for his Kaifong association.
3. As regards Mr Watson, I feel sure that personally he is an excellent choice but he gets in on the assumption (para. 3 of the Governor's letter) that there should be 4 Chinese and 1 European. In this connection para. 5 of the letter, recording the Governor's attempt to persuade the Chamber of Commerce to give up their right to nominate a member, assumes that, for the present at least, any such nomination would be a European.
The Chamber of Commerce is of course multi-racial in membership, and since 1960 non-Europeans have been eligible for the Generd" Committee of the Chamber. At present 4 members out of 16 are Chinese. I agree as to the importance of European (British) representation on the Council, but I am much more doubtful of the wisdom of appointing an additional European member until the Governor has made more progress in extinguishing the rights of the Chamber of Commerce and JPs.
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The proposal to nominate Mr P.C. Woo is in allprospect of 344 Conventional and is, I think, the weakest of the lot. If we were able to throw one of the Governor's nominations out then I agree with Mr Carter that it should be this one.
5. I am afraid there is about the Governor's letter a feeling that the Legislative Council is a members' club. While it is natural for the Governor to have consulted the present unofficials I have an uneasy impression that no one who is not persona grata with the present members stands much chance of acceptance. Even if this criticism is unfair, the Governor makes it quite clear (para. 18) that he is not prepared to recommend anyone who has not already made his name and that he does not intend to experiment with the "merely promising". I agree very much with Sir John Martin in his criticisms of the criterion laid down in the same paragraph that a candidate must be "of sufficiently independent means to be able to devote adequate time to public affairs". This point is taken up in the draft telegram opposite. I understand that the practice in this country varies greatly. We certainly could not say that it was the practice for smaller businesses to give time off for council business. In some cases indeed, particularly where councillors are on hourly rates they are liable to lose pay for hours of absence. The Government and public boards adopt a more liberal attitude, but it is the general difficulty of councillors getting time off that leads to local council business being so often transacted in the evening.
6.
The Governor (para. 11) is adopting a more liberal attitude than his predecessor about an appointment from among the elected members of the Urban Council even though both the Reform Club and the Civic Association made it clear that any nominee would be regarded not as appointed in his own right, but rather as a representative of its party. The Governor comes down against trying this experiment but on grounds of personality rather than of principle.
7. A real difficulty is that the terms of the existing members are not due to expire until July 1966 with the exception of Mr Li Fook Chu (July 1965). Unless we ask the Governor to agree to his new nominations being for 12 months only there will thus be virtual stagnation for two years and a tremendous clear-out in 1966. I think however it would be better on balance not to suggest that the new nominees should be appointed for a year only.
8. There is no absolute need for the vacancies to be filled by 1 July as the provisions of the constitutional instrument are permissive and the proceedings of the council are not invalidated by the existence of vacancies. If the Governor wishes to argue we need not fill bound by the 1 July date-line.
ir
grammer
9.
As in draft telegram opposite.
pri
(J.D. Higham)
17 June 1964
We have just received a despatch from the Governor recommending that Mr Gordon, the nominee of the JPs, should be extended for 2 years, but Mr Ross, who is to succeed Mr Knowles as Chamber of Commerce representative, for 1 year only. There is no special significance in this however, as the JPs' nominees have in the past been for 2 years and the
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