0003230
G.F. 323
CONFIDENTIAL
3
vain for such arguments in the papers on local administration.
It seems to be accepted without argument that "local government"
is a good thing in itself, whereas I would have thought it clear
that it is a necessary evil in many countries but an unnecessary
evil in Hong Kong.
5.
The present functionally orientated administration is by no means a pure bureaucracy. Accompanying the civil service organisation
there is an extensive apparatus of consultative bodies. This
apparatus is also for the most part constructed on a functional
rather than a geographical basis, partly because the number of
experts and laymen interested in various subjects is limited and they find no difficulty in embracing the whole Colony in their deliberations. One has only to conceive of a Medical Advisory
Board for Kowloon and another for Hong Kong to see why one body
only is required and is capable of dealing with the New Territories
as well. One board for hospital management and one for planning
and development would be the sort of solution one would expect to see in Hong Kong if there should be too much work for a single
board.
6. The exception is the limitation of the Urban Council's sphere of responsibility to the main urban areas. The anomaly here lies in this limitation, not in the fact that the departments through which
The Housing the Council operates have Colony-wide responsibilities. Authority has no such geographical limitation, and it is noteworthy that the Council itself, in constructing its network of Select
The Committees, has used functional, not geographical divisions. Council has divided the urban area into wards but the ward members
have no executive functions.
7.
The use of the name "Urban Council", the Council's geographical boundaries and its minor statutory powers appear to have made many people see some essential difference in the nature of this body
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