TNAG-0006-FCO40-42-Constitutional-development-1968 — Page 7

CONFIDENTIAL

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1966 an Official Working Party was set up to suggest possible

The

It has

lines of development in the sphere of local government.

Working Party's report was published early in 1967 and has since

been under consideration by the Hong Kong Government.

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

Soon

be able to put proposals before Executive Council sensent 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 Governor would, however, prefer any references at this stage

to these proposals to be only in the most general terms. His

reasons for this are that local government 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

Lassict

CONFIDENTIAL