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universally, thought that it would be undesirable to bring these within

the administrative area of a Municipal Council at any rate in its early

stages. I concur in this view. The interests of these rural districts

are well served under the District Officer system and it would be difficult

to ensure such representation as would be likely satisfactorily to protect

these interests in a Council which would be mairly preoccupied with urban

affairs.

It must be recognized that the exclusion of these rural districts

from the Council's administrative area will give rise to a number of

problems if the duplication of staffs in essential services such as roads

and water sumplies is to be avoided. Similarly most careful consideration

will have to be given to the arrangements for education and for the maintenance

of medical and sanitary services in the New Territories when these services

are transferred to the Council. I have no doubt however that when the time

comes it will be quite possible to arrive at satisfactory arrangements for

the continuance and expansion of the existing services in the New Territories

by co-operation between the Central Government and the Municipal Council.

14.

There are wide differences of opinion as to the number of members

to be appointed to the Council. My original suggestion was that it should

consist of forty-eight members. The numbers suggested by others have ranged

from fifteen to one hundred, but the weight of opinion is distinctly in

favour of a smaller number than that proposed by me. The suggestion that

there should be forty-eight members has been opposed on two grounds. The

first that a Council so composed would be unwieldy and unworkable, and the

second that it is unlikely that forty eight men able and qualified to serve

would be forthcoming. When suggesting this number I had in mind two main

considerations. The first was that there should be an adequate number of

elected representatives for wards which in all would contain considerably

more than a million persons. The second was that I felt that a substantially

smaller number would involve the Councillors in so much work on the Council's

Committees that many valuable men might not come forward as candidates

It has been

because of the likelihood of excessive demands on their time.

suggested that this latter difficulty might be met by keeping the number of