CONFIDENT IAL
VISIT OF THE MINISTAR OF STATE
(LOID SHEPUMID )
"NO HONG KONG, MAY/JUNK 1969
Note No. 3
13
REORGANISATION OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION
A reorganisation of local administration in Hong Kong, under examination since the publication in early 1967 of an official
Working Party Report on the subject, has been delayed by confron-
tation and its afte math. We do not think that the Governor has
yet formulated firm proposals about how to proceed; but he know 3 that the Minister wishes to discuss the subject during his visit,
2. The attached submission (Annex } which did not reach the
Minister before his departure wen prep: Peu with these discussions in view. It sets out (per-graphs 3-11) certain guide lines for the Minister's une. Phose tend to support the somewhat cautious first steps recommended in kr. Dickinson's report last yeer.
Sir Arthur Galsworthy sɣrees with the gaiasion and in his minute of 27 kay (Annex B) has suggested that the minister's attention
should be drawn to the example of Gibralter as a further argument against the Hong Kong Urban Council's proposal for a single local authority having co-terminous jurisdiction with the Central
Government. The Minister has himself stressed the need for caution (paragraph 4 of Annex A).
3. On the point raised by Sir A. Galsworthy in the last paragraph of his minute (Annex B), Mr. Dickinson's proposals envisage that the reconstituted Council would have non-mandatory and non-exclusive povers to provide and operate primary and secondary schools, adult education and evening institutes.
one
Hong Kong Department
28 May, 1969
mouet noté
28.5.69.
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CONFIDENTIAL