CONFIDENTIAL
BRIEF NO. 15
VISIT OF MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
TO HONG KONG
OCTOBER 1967
Unofficial Members of the Urban Council
The Urban Council consists of 6 official and 20 unofficial members. Ten of the unofficials are elected, 5 coming from the Reform Club, 3 from the Civic Association and 2 Independent (see Annex "A" to Background Notes No.3 and Personality Notes in Background Notes No.2).
2.
Unofficial members in their meeting with the Minister can be
expected to raise:-
(a) Local Government reorganisation. They advocate one
all-embracing local authority (paragraph 7 of Background Notes No.4): this has been their ambition for some years. It is recommended that the Minister should answer along the lines of paragraph 8 of Background
Notes No.4.
(b) The need for increased social services, particularly free.
The Minister and compulsory primary education for all. can say that Hong Kong's record shows a very commendable, if not spectacular, advance on this front and that much is, today, in the pipeline. He shares, however, their hope that the pace of development of these services can
As be maintained at a high rate, even perhaps quickened. for education, the Minister might say that there is a
He might refer to the serious problem of priorities here. high proportion of expenditure devoted to education (about
18%) and express the view that the limited objective of the 1965 White Paper (paragraphs 15 19 of Background Notes No.11)
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is a more realistic and balanced aim of policy at the present time. The Minister may wish to express his views on the importance of technical education (Brief No.5).
(c) Hong Kong Citizenship. The Civic Association in particular talk about the emergence of a "Hong Kong identity" and advocate the recognition of it by establishing a "Hong Kong citizenship". This is out of the question. The establishment of a separate Commonwealth citizenship has, with one
exception, always been one of the steps marking final independence. (The exception was the institution of
CONFIDENTIAL
/citizenship
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