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CONFIDENTIAL
G.F. 323
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PART I
GENERAL BRIEF
Background
At the time of the lease there was in the New Territories a settled rural population with established traditions and a hierarchy of leaders. Regard and respect was had for local custom and a tradition of discussion with local leaders on all matters was established from the earliest days. A district system of administration was applied to the New Territories, similar to other territories and is still operative. Land was first surveyed and registered. The District Officer then became the Land Officer. Private land transactions, land sales, resumptions of land for a public purpose are thus handled by the district offices of the New Territories Administration. There are seven district offices. In the remainder of Hong Kong, the Crown Lands Office of the Public Works Department administers land. Land and property matters have occupied a central place in discussions with local people throughout the whole period, and with the present great emphasis on development, land policy in its various aspects dominates discussion with local leaders.
2.
The tradition of consultation with the people inherent in the district officer system continues on a broadened basis as the population in the New Territories grows. (The advantages of this system were imported from the New Territories into Hong Kong and Kowloon in 1969 in the City District Office scheme.)
The New Territories Administration
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The New Territories Administration is a department headed by the Secretary for the New Territories, who is also a member of the Government Secretariat and of the Legislative Council. He has four main responsibilities:
(a)
(b)
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(c)
(a)
land authority, operating within established policies, for all facets of land administration;
political responsibility for liaison with representative opinion;
a co-ordinating responsibility for the work of other departments in the New Territories, particularly co-ordination of new town development, market towns and rural areas;
to maintain the impetus of all programmes and policies as they affect the New Territories.
CONFIDENTIAL
/Developments
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