§ 27. Mr. Rankinasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to state his reasons for refusing the petition signed by 12,000 residents in Hong Kong urging the creation of two elected unofficial seats on the Legislative Council.
§ Mr. LytteltonI am advised by the Governor that this petition does not represent public opinion generally in the Colony and that there is no general demand for constitutional change in Hong Kong at the present time.
§ Mr. RankinSurely 12,000 residents are representative of a very large fraction of the population in Hong Kong? If we 374 claim that Hong Kong is the show-piece of democracy in the Far East, surely there should be some form of popular representation in the Legislative Council.
§ Mr. LytteltonI think the hon. Member is a little wide of the mark here. The population of Hong Kong is now about 2¼ million, and 12,000 people have signed a petition. My information is that a large number of the people who have signed it are hawkers and others unlikely to have any real understanding of the issues involved. It has also taken a very long time to collect this number of signatures.