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Scope and Content
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The Minutes of Council Meetings comprise a summary of all formal actions and decisions taken by the Legislative Council. The minutes in this series constitute a concise journal of the business of the Council from its restoration in 1946, following the resumption of civil government at the end of the Second World War, to the present. The Council Minutes for the period 1844-1941 are not kept by the Legislative Council Secretariat (see item (1) in Note).
The Minutes in this series were issued under the name and signed by the President of the Council (a position held by the Governor of Hong Kong until February 1993) or the Clerk of Councils / Clerk to the Legislative Council / Clerk to the Provisional Legislative Council. In the early volumes in the series, the Minutes were frequently issued under the name of the Colonial Secretary, later Chief Secretary and preceded by the words ‘By command of the President’.
The Minutes covering the period 1946-1951 were usually annotated with the reference numbers of related subject files created in the Colonial Secretariat (see Associated Records).
From session 1995-1996 onwards, the Minutes contain schedules of voting results as annexes or appendices, and are signed by the Clerk to the Legislative Council / Clerk to the Provisional Legislative Council.
From session 1990-1991, the Minutes are prepared in both English and Chinese. These two versions of the Minutes are separately maintained and bound. This series covers both the English and Chinese versions of the Minutes.
a. Preparation of the Minutes
The Minutes are taken by the Clerk of Councils / Clerk to the Legislative Council / Clerk to the Provisional Legislative Council, or a clerk acting under his / her direction at Council meetings. Under Rule 6(2) of the Council’s Rules of Procedure, the Clerk is “responsible for keeping the minutes of the proceedings of the Council and of committees of the whole Council. The minutes of proceedings shall record the Members attending, all decisions taken, and details of every division held.”
This series of Council minutes began when administration of the Colony was handed back to civilian rule in May 1946 and the Legislative Council was re-convened.
b. Subject matter
The minutes record information on the following:
- Names of Members present at, and absent from, a meeting
- Persons in attendance
- Governor’s/Chief Executive’s address
- Titles of papers tabled, including subsidiary legislation, orders and notices under ordinances
- Sessional papers
- Questions
- Statements
- Government business, including motions and readings of bills
- Valedictory addresses
- Divisions (voting) including the names of Members voting for or against a motion
- Adjournment including the next sitting/meeting date
- Annexed documents, e.g. schedule of financial expenditure.
c. Related records series
The official printed reports of the meetings of the Council (i.e. Hong Kong Hansard) are in LAS 1 entitled: Hong Kong Hansard: Reports of the Meetings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (English Version) and LAS 39: Hong Kong Hansard: Reports of the Meetings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Chinese Version) respectively.
The floor version of reports of meetings, recorded in the language of the speeches delivered on the floor, is grouped under LAS 2: Official Record of the Proceedings of the Meetings of the Legislative Council (Floor Version of Hansard).
Reports and papers laid before the Council are compiled separately in LAS 4: Sessional Papers and LAS 59: Other Papers Tabled at Legislative Council Meetings. Details of the papers tabled at Council Meetings are set out at the beginning of the Minutes for each meeting after the names of Members present and absent and persons in attendance.
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Physical Description
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Record items comprise bound volumes and loose-leaf bundles of papers enclosed in envelops or manila folders.
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