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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
halls, sports grounds, playgrounds and parks; provision and patronage of cultural services and outdoor entertainment; and the licensing of places of public entertainment and liquor licensing. In all of these fields, the council's policies and decisions are carried out by the Urban Services Department, the director of which is the principal executive officer of the council under the Urban Council Ordinance.
The council's main revenue is derived from its 34.8 per cent share of the yield from rates in the urban area. Fees and charges provide other sources of income. In the 1977-8 financial year, the council worked to an overall budget of $446 million.
The council moved to its new specially-designed chambers adjacent to the City Hall in March, and the first public meeting was held there in April.
In addition to their more formal activities, an important part of the work of urban councillors is the operation of a ward system for dealing with complaints from the public. Under this system, councillors are responsible for dealing with complaints on a district basis, with two councillors looking after each district. A large number of questions and complaints is dealt with in this way, either by councillors dealing with matters themselves informally or by an approach to the government department concerned or raising the matter formally in the Urban Council.
Advisory Committees
An important aim of the government is that of improving its contacts with the popu- lation at large. The government also is concerned to ensure that it acts on the best advice available and that its actions are understood and accepted by those affected. An important part of the effort to achieve this aim is a comprehensive network of more than 100 advisory bodies. These bodies, which include both government em- ployees and members of the public, are a distinctive feature of the system of govern- ment in Hong Kong. Practically all government departments and areas of activity are assisted by advisory bodies of one sort or another.
Advisory bodies may be based on the common interests of a particular locality (as in the case of Mutual Aid Committees or the Rural Committees in the New Terri- tories), or a particular industry (such as the Textiles Advisory Board), or deal with a particular area of community concern (such as the Action Committee Against Narcotics) or of government activity (such as the Transport Advisory Committee). Other examples of such bodies are the Board of Education, the Medical Development Advisory Committee, the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, the Labour Advisory Board, and the Trade and Industry Advisory Board.
Civil Service
The civil service provides the staff for all government departments, sub-departments and other units of the administration. During 1976–7, the civil service began to grow again to enable departments to implement many important government programmes, some of which had been deferred or slowed down during the period of severe con- straint caused by the economic and financial situation of 1974-5. The total number of posts usually called the establishment - grew from 114,100 on April 1, 1976, to 117,800 on April 1, 1977. Recruitment resumed at an increasingly rapid pace and, during the year, the strength rose from 104,200 to 108,400, of whom 105,800 were local officers.
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