TNAG-0006-FCO40-42-Constitutional-development-1968 — Page 5

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CONFIDENTIAL

It has always been realised that the development of local

government in Hong Kong must be approached with great

caution and there is a marked divergence of opinion on the

subject in the Colony. Indeed, when the Minister of State

visited Hong Kong in October, 1967, he agreed that it would

be unwise to proceed with the Working Party's full proposals

in the foreseeable future.

3.

The Governor has recently informed us that he is hoping

to be able to put proposals before Executive Council soon

for a degree of modernisation of the urban council and some

extension of its functions. These proposals represent an

intermediate step short of those recommended in the Working

Party's report. The Gove mor would, however, prefer any

reference at this stage to these proposals to be only in

the most general terms. His reasons for this are that local

goverament can only marginally be considered to form part

of the Hong Kong "political structure"; the proposals have

not yet been put to his Executive Council; and it would be

discourteous for Executive Council to be made aware of them

for the first time through statements in Parliament.

4. The Hong Kong Government is well aware of the

difficulties, in the absence of an elected element in the

Councils of the Central Government, of maintaining contact

between the Government and residents in the urban areas.

They accordingly introduced, at the beginning of this year,

a scheme of "City District Officers" in Hong Kong Island and

Kowloon, These District Officers will be expected to provide

a two-way channel of communication between the people and

the Government: they will assess the impact of Government

policies on the people of their districts and will undertake

a number of simple services, such as mediation in labour

disputes. Experience obtained from the operation of the

scheme may assist in the development of local authorities

in due course. A brief description of the scheme was given

by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mr.Whitlock)

on 12th March, 1968, in reply to a question by Mr. Anthony

Royle.