HKK 011/3
AYED IN KEON CONFIDENTIAL
19 SEP 1983
STAY suga Taken
REVIEW OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN HONG KONG
filecc
zi
See 32
FROM: R D Clift
Hong Kong Department
DATE: 15 September 1983
CC:
Mr Donald
Mr Roberts, News Dept
Mr Thomson, FED
A
1. We spoke about this last week. I agreed to provide Mr Luce with
a brief summary of the present position before he leaves for the Far
East.
>
2. The background is set out in the attached draft memorandum,
which the Executive Council will discuss on 20 September, just before Mr Luce arrives in Hong Kong.
3. The main purpose of the review is to look into ways of ending an
anomoly in Hong Kong's District Administration Scheme whereby there
is no equivalent in the New Territories to the Urban Council.
Residents of the New Territories do not therefore have the right to
vote in Urban Council elections. The situation also leads to an
imbalance between the urban area and the New Territories in the
provision of resources and the funding and implementation of
projects in those programme areas for which the Urban Council is
responsible. The New Territories do have an advisory body, the
Heung Yee Kuk, but it does not have the same role as the Urban
Council; moreover it represents largely the interests of the
indigenous New Territories people, who are now a minority of the population of the New Territories.
4.
Paragraph 11 of the draft memorandum sets out four options which
will be considered by the review team (an informal group of officials working for the Chief Secretary). The Hong Kong
CONFIDENTIAL
/Government