in the first instance, the details of every proposed vote and measure.
By royal instrument, in 1886, the number of official members of the Legislative Council was fixed at seven, and that of the unofficial members at five.
In 1894 an appeal was addressed to the House of Commons by the residents of the Colony, in favour of (1) the majority of the Legislative Council being composed of elected representatives of British nationality; (2) perfect freedom of debate for the official members, with power to vote according to their conscientious convictions; (3) complete control in the Council over local expenditure; (4) the management of local affairs, and (5) a consultative voice in questions of an imperial character. The Marquess of Ripon, in replying to the petitioners, expressed the opinion that the Colony had been well governed. The fact that such a politically timid race as the Chinese had settled in the Colony in such large numbers was practical and irrefutable evidence that the Government must at least have possessed some measure of strength and of justice. Though holding out no hope that Hongkong would cease to be a Crown Colony, and stating that he was not inclined to add to the numbers of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council without increasing also the number of official members, the noble Marquess went on to suggest that "some understanding might be come to, that, in the case of discussion of specified local subjects—at any rate so long as there was no municipality in existence in Hongkong—one or more unofficial members should be summoned to take part in the proceedings in the Executive Council, without giving them seats on the Council for all purposes." On May 29, 1896, Mr. Chamberlain, who had meanwhile succeeded the Marquess of Ripon as Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote, in continuation of the same subject: "As Hongkong is to remain a Crown Colony, no useful purpose would be served, but, on the contrary, a considerable amount of needless irritation would be caused, by balancing even the unofficial members and the officials. But, having regard to the fact that, in the absence of the Governor, the officer commanding the troops will in future administer the Government, I consider that it would be of advantage that he should be a member of the Legislative Council, and, if he is added to it, I am willing to add one unofficial member to the unofficial bench. Who the latter should be, and what special interest, if any, he should represent, I leave to the Governor to determine. I may observe, however, that the Chinese community is the element which is least represented, while it is also by far the most numerous, and that I should regard as valuable any step which tended to attach them more closely to the British connexion and to increase their practical interest in public affairs." Mr. Chamberlain added that, "in view of the fact that the Colonial Government was discharging municipal duties, representatives of the citizens might fairly be given a place on the Executive." He therefore proposed that "the Executive Council shall in future include two unofficial members to be selected at the discretion of the Governor. It is obviously desirable," he proceeded, "that they should, as a rule, be chosen from among the unofficial members of the Legislative Council, and the choice should, and no doubt will be, inspired by consideration of personal merit, and have no reference to the particular class or race to which the persons chosen belong."
In accordance with the terms of this despatch, the number of public representatives upon the Legislative Council was increased to six, and two unofficial members were added to the Executive Council. At the present day the Executive consists of eight members, and the Legislative Council of thirteen members, not including the Governor, who presides.
Concurrently with the demand (or some measure of popular representation on the Legislative Council in January, 1849, an agitation arose in favour of a system of Municipal Government. In reply to a clause urging this reform in the petition submitted to the House of Commons by the leading merchants of the Colony, Earl Grey, in the following October, wrote that he could see no general objection to the proposal, but he hesitated to pronounce upon it until some definite scheme was formulated. Accordingly, in November, Sir George Bonham, the Governor, after expressing his agreement with the principle of giving the ratepayers some form of Municipal Government, although doubting the practicability of its application to Hongkong, requested fifteen unofficial Justices of the Peace, whom he summoned to a conference, to consult together upon the organisation of a "Municipal Committee of Police Commissioners." At their first meeting on December 6, 1849, the Justices of the Peace passed the following resolutions:—First, that no advantage could be derived from having a Municipal Council unless the entire management of the police, of the streets and roads within the precincts of the town, and of all other matters was given to the Corporation or confided to it; and, secondly, that, whereas the mode of raising so much of the revenue from land rents is only retained as being the most convenient and is in lieu of assessment and taxes, consequently the amount raised from that source, together with the £3,000 or £4,000 raised from licences and rents, should, with the police assessments, be made applicable, so far as may be required, for municipal purposes.
In response to this, Sir George Bonham, being desirous of meeting the wishes of the community as far as possible, offered, on January 10, 1851, to place the whole management of the police under the control of a Municipal Committee, on condition that the entire expense of the force was met by an adequate police tax. He further proposed to hand over to this Committee of Management all streets, roads, and sewers, on the understanding that the necessary funds were provided, either by an assessed tax on real property, or by a tax upon horses and carriages, as the general revenue of the Colony would prove insufficient for the purpose. The Justices replied declining both the Governor's offers. Whilst expressing their willingness to undertake the duties of a Municipal Committee, they objected, first, that any further tax would be injurious, as the cost of living was already exorbitant; and, secondly, that the police tax would not be sufficient to provide the necessary funds, because, whilst the Colony remained a rendezvous for pirates and outlaws, the police force was too small, and was composed of too untrustworthy and ill-paid material. The discussion closed with the Governor's declaration, on March 15, 1851, that "As the Justices objected to any further taxes, and as application to the Home Government for further grants would, in view of recent discussions in the House of Commons, be of no avail, it was impossible for him to meet the views of the Justices."
From this date the matter seems to have lain dormant in the minds of the local community until 1894, when a memorial on this and cognate subjects was addressed to the Home Government, as previously stated. The Marquess of Ripon replied that, although he would like to see a Municipal Council established in Hongkong, he was not prepared to sanction any important change of administration "until the necessary measures for protecting the health of the Colony had been finally decided upon and brought into operation." Moreover, his Lordship foresaw the difficulty of separating Municipal from Colonial matters. Referring to the subject in his famous despatch of May 29, 1896, Mr. Chamberlain, who was then Secretary of State for the Colonies, declared that it seemed to him impracticable to grant a Municipal Council to Hongkong, "for this reason, among others: that the Colony and the Municipality would be in great measure co-extensive, and it would be almost impossible to draw the line between Colonial and Municipal matters." In these circumstances, as has been seen, the right hon. gentleman advocated the inclusion of two unofficial members in the Executive Council.
In the meantime, that is to say in 1883, as the result of a report made by Mr. Osbert Chadwick on the deplorable sanitary condition of the Colony, a permanent Sanitary Board, consisting of eight members, had been established with a nominated unofficial element. This Board was reconstituted under the Public Health Ordinance of 1887, and the public were granted the right of electing two representatives, an unofficial majority being also conceded. In 1895, the Medical Officer of Health was appointed to a seat on the Board, whereupon all the unofficial members, save one, resigned as a protest. Eventually the storm subsided, and, in deference to the opinion of the general community ascertained by a plebiscite taken by the Chamber of Commerce, an ordinance was passed in 1901 fixing the official representation at four, and the unofficial at six. Two years later, however, the Sanitary Board was converted into a Sanitary Department of the Government, presided over by the Principal Civil Medical Officer, who was held directly responsible for the administration of sanitary matters. By this change, which was based upon a report presented by Mr. Chadwick and Prof. Simpson, the Board became little more than an advisory committee. In 1907 a Commission deplored this practical disfranchisement of the public, and recommended that any matters relating to sanitation (except control of the water supply, public roads, and sewers), building nuisances, and the construction or alteration of buildings which were then dealt with by the building authority should be transferred to the Sanitary Board, to be hereafter designated the Sanitary and Building Board—composed of four official and six unofficial members—which should elect its own president, have the complete ordering of its own affairs, and be accountable to the Governor for the expenditure of funds voted by the Legislative Council, on estimates furnished by the Board.
In response to these recommendations, the Government introduced a Bill in March, 1908, which provided for the transference of the duties of the Board, under the Building Ordinance to the Public Works Department, as a means of ending the division of authority, of which complaint had been made. The constitution of the Board it was arranged should be altered by the withdrawal of the Principal Civil Medical Officer, and the Captain Superintendent of Police, in whose stead a cadet, with experience of the Chinese, and the Medical Officer of Health should
