13. In addition to the three main constitutional institutions and the Civil Service are the Urban Council, 18 District Boards, and an extensive network of Boards and Committees.
14. The Urban Council is a statutory and financially autonomous body responsible for providing municipal services as well as cultural and recreational facilities throughout the urban areas. It comprises 30 councillors, 15 of whom are appointed by the Governor and 15 directly elected on a constituency basis. The Chairman is elected by the Council from amongst its membership. The elected members automatically have seats on the urban District Boards in whose area their constituency lies, and the appointed members are also allocated seats on District Boards.
15. The 18 District Boards were set up in 1982 on a geographical basis covering the whole of Hong Kong. Of the total membership of the District Boards, about one-third are officials, one-third are appointed unofficials and the remainder (132 at present) are directly elected unofficials. It is in the District Boards that the concept of representative government based on popular elections has been most widely developed. The Boards provide a forum for public consultation and participation at the District level. They have a mainly advisory role with a substantial influence over district affairs. They are also allocated some public funds for local recreational and cultural activities and for minor environmental works.
16. The system by which members of the Urban Council and District Boards are elected is based on an electoral roll on which all residents aged 21 or above who have been in Hong Kong for seven or more years are eligible to be registered. Out of an estimated total potential electorate of 2.7 million, there are at present approximately 900,000 registered electors. An intensive campaign to encourage many more eligible persons to register as electors will be conducted in the near future.
17. Plans to double the number of elected members on the District Boards in 1985 and to set up a new partly elected Regional Council in 1986, to cover those areas not under the aegis of the Urban Council, were announced by the Government very recently. The new Regional Council will be composed of 12 directly elected members, nine representatives elected from the New Territories District Boards, three ex-officio representatives from the Heung Yee Kuk and 12 appointed members. A provisional Regional Council, with the same membership, except for the 12 directly elected members, will be set up in early 1985. The Urban Council is now considering the implications of the composition of the new Regional Council for the form and composition of the Urban Council.
18. There is also an extensive network of 371 Boards and Committees, which make up an important and distinctive feature of the system of consultative government in Hong Kong. Many hundreds of citizens serve as members of these boards and committees. Most of them are appointed but in some
6