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Wednesday, November 15, 1972
Mr. Luddington said young people are concerned about their city,
neighbours and environment, and City District Officers and others have for
some time been making use of this youthful enthusiasm on which many different
voluntary services rely.
"More could certainly be done to co-ordinate such voluntary effort
will
on a regional basis and I will look into this."
On the question of executive duties for C.D.Os, Mr. Luddington
emphasised that although they do not have any executive powers now, they do
have an ever widening task to improve and maintain the relationships between
the people and the executive departments of Government.
He said he was not against C.D.Os assuming executive duties, but he
was concerned that they should not be given such duties which "could only be
carried out at the expense of their present work." The staff of the C.D.Os.
are already working long hours to meet their present commitments, he added.
"New campaigns and new duties without further staff and "further
accommodation would endanger the contacts which we have established and the
services we do now provide," he said.
Mr. Luddington agreed with Unofficial members on the need for
experienced officers to be posted as C.D.Os. but said the C.D.O. scheme is
not an end in itself.
"Other departments responsible for achieving practical targets in
housing, social welfare, sanitation and recreation must have their share of
the relatively small pool of experience," he said.
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