financial independence, its advisory capacity on local administration was considerably different from that of the previous Council".
The 1999 Hong Kong Year-Book states that "The Urban Council is the statutory Council with responsibilities for the provision of urban services to almost 3.6 million people in the urban areas". This shows that although the Urban Council has financial independence and the municipal government must carry out its policies and decisions and it has powers to elect members to the Legislative Council, nonetheless, its principal tasks are to provide municipal services and their scope is comparatively limited.
The Regional Council was established on 1 April 1985. At that time it was called the Temporary Regional Council and consisted of 24 people of whom 12 were appointed, 9 were elected from District Boards in the new territories and there were also the Chairman and the 2 Vice-Chairmen of Heung Yee Kuk. In 1986, this was changed to the Regional Council. The Regional Council, like the Urban Council, is a statutory body which enjoys independent financial power and is responsible for environmental health, public health, sanitation, liquor licensing, and the provision of recreational and cultural facilities and services within the area of its Jurisdiction. The Regional Council Services Department is its executive arm and is responsible for carrying out the policies of the Council. From this it can be seen that the Regional Council is also an advisory body.
The District Boards are statutory bodies established in 1982 "to provide an effective forum for public consultation and participation in administration of the districts", the functions of the District Boards are basically to advise the Government on a wide range of matters affecting the well-being of the people living and working in the districts. From this it can be seen, that, although the District Boards can also elect members of the Legislative Council, the tasks with which they are charged are to provide advice on local administrative and welfare questions to the Government and they are a type of advisory body.
There are, however, many different views concerning the the Urban Council, the Regional Council and the District Boards to be found in Hong Kong publications. Some claim the Urban Council is a local government holding that it "possesses democratically elected members and can give orders to a government department to do work". Some people hold that the Urban Council, the Regional Council and the District Boards all belong to the "local administrative system". Others say that only the District Boards should belong to the local administration. All these ideas are rather different from the provisions in the Basic Law.
According to the Basic Law, these district organizations are not appropriate to be considered a level of government. A local government should be an administrative organ managing the political, economic and cultural matters of that locality in accordance with the law, its enjoys specific state powers for the management of various local tasks. However, the powers of the present district organizations in Hong Kong are limited and their powers are confined to health and social welfare matters, and