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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
Further, the new premises provide much better accommodation, both for members of the public and for members of the department.
Urban Council
The new Urban Council Ordinance came into effect on April 1, 1973 whereby the council became a body corporate, responsible for handling its own finances under a chairman and vice-chairman elected by and from its own members. By that date, all officials had been withdrawn from membership of the council, and the non- government membership increased from 20 to 24-12 appointed by the Governor and 12 elected by residents eligible to vote under the ordinance. Their terms of office are normally four
years.
The council continued to hold its public meetings once monthly, but most of its business is decided by the standing committee of the whole council and 13 select committees which meet regularly and frequently. The select committees co-opt such officials as are necessary, and each select committee is chaired by an urban councillor.
The Urban Council's responsibilities are restricted to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon, which hold the majority of the population (3.3867 million of a total 4.159 million at July 1973). Its main duties are: public sanitation and cleansing; the licensing and hygienic control of all food premises, offensive trades, bathhouses and laundries; and management and control of markets, abattoirs, hawkers, cemeteries, crematoria, and funeral parlours. They also include manage- ment of the City Hall, museum, public libraries, government car parks, places of public recreation (bathing beaches, swimming pools, tennis and squash courts, foot- ball stadia, games halls, sports grounds, playgrounds and parks); provision and patronage of cultural services and outdoor entertainment for the people in their own neighbourhoods; licensing places of public entertainment; and the Liquor Licensing Board. In all of these fields, the Urban Council's policies and decisions are carried out by the Urban Services Department. The Director is the principal executive officer of the council under the ordinance.
Most of the cost for this work is met with income from the Urban Council's share (40 per cent) of the yield from rates in the urban area--but fees and charges provide other sources of income. In the fiscal year 1973-4 this income amounted to approximately $266 million, including a once-for-all grant of $20 million from the government.
Foreign Relations
The foreign relations of the Hong Kong Government are the responsibility of the British Government, but with external trade a considerable degree of latitude is permitted to Hong Kong. The territory's dependence on trade makes it necessary for the Hong Kong Government to maintain offices in London, Washington, Geneva and Brussels to maintain and improve commercial relations with other countries.