CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
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Government and the local inhabitants. Their responsibilities include arbitration in all kinds of village and personal disputes, including family and matrimonial cases. They control the utilization and sale of Crown land and administer the grant of temporary structure permits. They also control squatters, except in the case of Tsuen Wan where the Commissioner for Resettlement is responsible. They register documents and deeds relating to private land,` and approve plans for small domestic and agricultural buildings exempted from certain requirements of the Buildings Ordinance, 1955. They assess and collect stamp duty, and issue licences for various types of licensed premises. District Officers have an alloca- tion of funds from the New Territories local public works vote, which pays for materials to help villagers-improve irrigation and water supplies, build paths and small bridges and carry out a wide variety of other minor works to improve the amenities of the villages.
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District Officers have the assistance of Rural Committees whose executive committees, exercising various advisory functions, are usually elected by secret ballot every two years by and from village representatives. There are now 27 of these committees covering the entire New Territories and each month they receive a small subvention from Government to cover routine expenses. Within its own area each Rural Committee acts as the spokesman for local public opinion, arbitrates in clan and family disputes, and generally provides a bridge between the administration and the people.
The chairmen and vice-chairmen of the 27 Rural Committees, together with the unofficial New Territories Justices of the Peace, and 21 Special Councillors elected every two years, form the Full Council of the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk, whose title may be translated into English as 'Rural Consultative Council'. The Kuk serves as a forum where leaders of New Territories opinion have gathered since it was constituted in 1926, and from which (except during the period from August 1958 to December 1959 when official recognition of the representative status of the Kuk was withdrawn because of internal dissension) Government has sought advice on New Territories affairs. Under its new constitu- tion which was established by the Heung Yee Kuk Ordinance, 1959, the Kuk, apart from its Full Council, also includes an