(i) structure of proposed system of local administration;
(ii) franchise;
(iii) composition;
(iv)
functions;
(v) financial responsibility.
It
7. Structure of Local Administration. The Urban Council's ambitions for a two-tier system consisting of a single Municipal Council (with jurisdiction extending over the entire Colony) and subordinate District Councils must be regarded as unacceptable.
is an old ambition: it was a feature of the unimplemented "Mark Young Constitution" of 1948. There is not room in a territory no bigger than a "City state" for two co-terminous authorities. Moreover there is little chance that the proposals would find acceptance in the New Territories. On the other hand the 1967 Working Party proposals for the establishment of two or three Municipal Councils for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon and an Urban District Council for Tsuen Wan are evidently seen as being too audacious a change in the aftermath of confrontation. It is largely for this reason that the Dickinson Report has left untouched the area of jurisdiction of the present Urban Council and has proposed only one new creation, that of a local authority for Tsuen Wan. Although there is much to be said for the creation of separate local authorities for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon as a long term objective, there are no pressing reasons for doing this at the present time. In the circumstances it is possibly better to err on the side of
caution.
8. Franchise. The 1967 Working Party was of the view that the franchise should be both wider and simpler than the existing Urban Council structure; they considered adult suffrage or a ratepayers' franchise would afford practicable solutions, coupled with a requirement in respect of residence in the Colony for a minimum period of time. The Urban Council, surprisingly enough, seemed content with the existing franchise. Mr. Dickinson accepted the impossibility of introducing adult suffrage at the present time, but saw difficulty in any halfway house between this and the
/ existing