CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
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During the year, the office also assumed responsibility for a new and experimental training course at Oxford, designed for 15 young Chinese administrative officers on probation. Under a Director of Studies seconded from Hong Kong, they will study management, economics and government, for an academic year.
Government Departments
The administrative functions of the government are discharged by more than 30 departments, most of which are organised on a functional basis and have responsi- bilities covering all Hong Kong. This form of organisation, rather than one based on authorities with responsibilities in a limited geographical area, is suitable for this small, compact territory and has enabled the government to provide services without regard to the capacity of residents of various districts to pay taxes.
Home Affairs Department and New Territories Administration
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The two government departments most closely concerned with the reactions of the people to government policies and plans are the Home Affairs Department and the New Territories Administration.
The Home Affairs Department controls the 10 City District Officers in the urban areas while the New Territories Administration is in charge of the seven District Officers stationed in the New Territories. A primary function of both departments is to assess the impact of contemplated new policies on the population and, when they are adopted, to explain these policies to the public. They also report on trends of public opinion in the districts. In this general connection it has long been the practice of these two de- partments to foster links with a variety of private organisations including, in the urban areas, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Po Leung Kuk, kaifong associations, district and clansmen's associations, multi-storey building associations and religious organisa- tions and youth groups.
The City District Office scheme, modelled on the long-established District Officer system, was introduced during 1968. The 10 City District Officers (six in Kowloon and four in Hong Kong) are charged with the three-fold duty of rendering services on behalf of the government, services for the community and services for the individual. They exercise a local co-ordinating function, test public opinion, watch for sources of grievance and tension, and in general try to interpret to the man in the street the measures adopted by a specialised and sophisticated administration. They also deal with individual complaints, answer enquiries, provide information and mediate in a variety of disputes.
During 1974 the City District Officers continued to mobilise the community to participate in the Fight Violent Crime Campaign and the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign. For the mutual aid committees this was a year of consolidation as well as expansion. In the early part of the year, the City District Officers devoted much time and effort to servicing these committees to bring about improvements in management, security and cleanliness in multi-storey buildings in both private and public sectors. During the year 368 new mutual aid committees were formed, bringing the total to 1,575 by the end of 1974.