achieve this. Public participation in the management of public affairs is already achieved, and to a very considerable extent, by a highly de- veloped network of advisory bodies which are an important and very characteristic feature of the Hong Kong scene. Hong Kong's advisory bodies take many forms ranging from the Heung Yee Kuk and the Rural Committees which are consulted regularly by the District Com- missioner and District Officers in the New Territories, and informal groups consulted by the City District Officers to such Colony-wide bodies as the Labour Advisory Board, the Trade and Industry Advisory Board and many more. Other considerations apart, one of the reasons for not creating new bodies on a local basis is that satisfactory arrange- ments already exist for the provision of particular services by a Govern- ment Department with the advice of a body which includes members. of the public. If new ways are sought of involving local residents to a greater extent in the processes of Government, it would seem to be logical to do so by allowing, and perhaps encouraging, the advisory bodies to develop on a Colony-wide functional basis rather than by investing additional powers in District Councils or in the Urban Council itself.
Urban Council
4. The Urban Council already has a wide range of statutory func- tions in the fields of public health, cleansing, environmental hygiene, hawkers and markets, the management of abattoirs, the licensing of restaurants, the management of cemeteries and crematoria and the provision of recreational and cultural facilities to name only a few. (A full list of the Urban Council's functions is annexed). It should also be noted that the Urban Services Department, though not the Urban Council, carries out a similar range of functions in the New Territories.
BACKGROUND CONSIDERATIONS
5. The principal considerations to be borne in mind in any discus- sion of the future of the Urban Council are as follows:
(a) membership of the Urban Council provides an opportunity for both elected and nominated Councillors to acquire practical experience in public administration;
2