ita-
15. It is not proposed to change the part played by the Heung Yee Kuk, the Rural Committees or the Village Representatives. They will continue to play their traditional valuable role not only in the rural areas but also as repi tives of the indigenous people of the New Territories living in the more developed areas, providing a means by which their particular interests in land, rural housing and rural tradition can be discussed with the Government. As ex-officio members of the District Boards, the Rural Committee Chairmen in new towns and New Territories Districts will ensure that progress is tempered by tradition.
Urban Area
16. The experiment in Kwun Tong has already indicated that there is consider- able scope for the improvement of Government services at the District level and it is intended that the scheme be extended to the other Districts of Hong Kong and Kowloon. As a next step it is proposed that once each urban District Management Committee is established its operation should be reinforced by the appointment of a District Board. They, like the retitled District Boards in the New Territories, would be chaired by the City District Commissioners and would include a nucleus of Government officials, together with unofficial mem- bers appointed from the District including representatives of Area Committees, Mutual Aid Committees, Kaifongs and other active bodies. However their terms of reference would have to be slightly narrower in scope than those of their New Territories counterparts in order to avoid infringing on the prerogatives of the Urban Council. They would also differ from their New Territories counterparts in that membership would be by appointment not by election to avoid duplication of the electoral system. For the District Boards to be effective the links between them and the District Management Committees may have to be strengthened. This proposal therefore has significant implications in terms of manpower and their introduction will have to be phased over the next two
years.
CHAPTER IV
The Jan Council
17. If direct election to the District Boards in the New Territories is established on the basis of adult suffrage confined to residents of Districts or towns in the New Territories, it appears logical similarly to confine the Urban Council electorate to residents of the urban area. It also seems logical that Urban Council members should be elected on the basis of adult suffrage rather than on the present somewhat anomalous franchise.
18. It is also for consideration whether the District focus in the urban area could be given even greater clarity, and the work of members of the Urban Council broadened, by the introduction of the following new arrangements:— (a) Each elected member would be elected by a separate geographical
constituency;
(b) If this is agreed, the boundaries of the urban Districts could be adjusted
to produce seven Districts of approximately 500,000 people and one of about half that number. The seven large Districts would each contain two constituencies and the small one one constituency, each of which would return one member to the Urban Council;
(c) Two seats would be reserved on the seven District Boards (and only one on the eighth) for the members of the Urban Council elected from that District so that they could participate in its work if they wished; (d) Seats would similarly be reserved for appointed members of the Urban
Council if they wished to participate in the Boards' work;
(e) While it is desirable that candidates for election should be associated with their constituency, it is not proposed that candidates should be resident in the constituency for which they stand;
(f) The number of appointed members would be increased to 15. The present balance between elected and appointed members would be maintained.
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