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CHAPTER THREE: A QUESTION OF GOVERNMENT
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C H A P T E R T H R E E A QUESTION OF GOVERNMEN T Thischapte rfollow sclosel yfro mth elas ton esinc eth eissu eo fpolitica l advancementattimesinvolvednotonlydevelopingtheLegislativeCounci l butals oreformin gth eExecutiv eCouncil ,o rintroducin gchange sa tth e municipallevel .Thi schapte rfocuse so nth eevolutio no fth eExecutiv e Councilan dthequestionofdevelopingoneorseveralmunicipa lcouncil s asavehicleforloca lgovernment . a. Evolutio n of the Executive Counci l Aswa sth ecas ewithth eLegislativ eCouncil ,th econstitutiona lbasi sfo r settingupanExecutiveCouncilwastheLettersPatent(documentI.a5)issue d byQueenVictoriain1843.Itsoriginalmembership ,organization,andrules werelai ddownb ytheRoya lInstruction s(documen tI.a6) .Asexplainedi n ChapterII ,inthefirsttwoyearsofHongKongasacolony,themembershi p oftheExecutiveCouncili nfactduplicatedthatoftheLegislativeCouncil.It wasno tuntil184 5thatanExecutiveCouncilo fthreemembersi nadditio n totheGovernor,asrequiredi ntheRoyalInstructions ,becameestablished. Itsmembersweretheseniormilitaryofficerincommandofthetroops(Major General G.C.D'Aguilar),theColonialSecretary(F.W.A.Bruce)andtheChief Magistrate(WilliamCaine).ThefirstattempttoreformtheExecutiveCouncil byintroducin gtwounofficialmembers ,proposedbyGovernorBonha mi n 1849(documen tILal )wasturneddownb yLondon.Asecondattemptwa s madeb yBonham' ssuccessor ,Bowring ,i n1858 ,th ebasi sfo rwhic hi s explainedindocumentlll.albelow .This,too,provedabortiveasthereasons providedbyGovernorBowringhadprovedtobeill-conceived,asdocument III.a2explains . 106 Governmentan dPolitic s D O C U M E N T IILal : Governo r Bowrin g t o Secretar y E.B . Lytton, dispatc h 137 , 6 October 185 8 (extracts ) (source : COl29/69 ) The inconvenience s t o which th e Governmen t o f this Colon y i s subjected fro m the limited members of the Executive Council, and the difficulty i n which we sometimes find ourselve s t o mak e the required quoru m o f three induc e m e to press upon yo u th e desirableness o f adding one additional membe r t o that Body . The Executiv e Counci l a s at presen t constitute d consist s o f 4 member s — th e Governor, th e Lieutenan t Governor , th e Militar y Commande r o f th e forces , an d (provisionally) th e Acting Colonial Secretary . For many month s the Military Commander o f the Forces has been much mor e a t Headquarters i n Canton than in the Colony and the business of the Executive depend s upon th e gatherin g togethe r o f th e thre e remainin g member s wh o ar e necessar y t o form a quoru m In a Colony lik e this where illnes s frequently incapacitate s u s from th e discharg e of our duties , i t has more tha n onc e happene d tha t i t has been necessar y t o assembl e the Council i n the sick room of one of its members, in order to get through th e urgen t business of the Government . At th e present moment the Lieutenant Governor (th e General being in Canton ) has applie d fo r si x weeks ' leav e o f absenc e o r sic k certificat e whic h bein g grante d leaves onl y tw o member s o f th e Counci l i n th e Colony , viz . mysel f an d th e Actin g Colonial Secretary . And a s regards myself, for some weeks my medical men hav e been urgin g on m e the absolute necessity of change of climate. In fact m y health i...