The petition drawn up by Mr. Pollock, in the essence, asks that no longer shall the unofficial members on the Executive and Legislative Councils occupy a position which amounts to nothing short of an absurdity, from their point of view; that there shall be no gov-emmental nominations for seats on these bodies; and that all the unofficial members shall be elected, excepting the Chinese members, half by the Chamber of Commerce and half by the non-official Justices of the Peace. The unofficial members ask for a majority in the Legislative Council in order to prevent the monotonous repetition of Governmental '"No's" to muggestions and motions put forward by unofficial members in all good faith and in the honest conviction that they are doing what es best for the different. intereste which they respectively represent.
As is pointed out in the petition, at the present time the official members of the Legislative Council are not free to vote according to their convictions—doubtless official members would deny this, though one fails to find an instance where an Official has voted against the Government—and that, inasmuch as the Governor or other presiding officer can commandeer all the official votes, the officials possess an absolute and permanent
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.