TNAG-0199-FCO40-235-City-district-officer-scheme-1969 — Page 149

CITY DISTRICT OFFICER SCHEME HONG KONG

Progress Report to 10th October, 1968

Background

The possibility of adapting the well tried institution of the District Officer for urban Hong Kong has been discussed

for some years.

The Secretariat for Chinese Affairs has always had a general political function not dissimilar from that of the District Officers and during the communist confrontation in

1967 the SCA's four regional offices were strengthened, a fifth

was opened and plans were developed for the introduction of a

District Officer scheme for the urban areas. These were

considered in the Executive Council on 2nd January 1968 and

announced in the Legislative Council on 24th January 1968. The

first four City District Officers were appointed on 10th May.

There are now a total of seven C.D.Os out of an establishment

of ten, with an Assistant S.C.A. holding the fort in two Kowloon

Districts while one C.D.O. on the Island has charge of a skeleton

staff concerned with one District in addition to his own.

The Concept of the Scheme

2. The C.D.O. represents more the ultimate development of

the District Officer concept than the all round judicial and

executive authority of the traditional District Officers. The New Territories District Officers have shed all judicial and many

executive functions since the war, the only important executive powers remaining being those concerned with land. The C.D.O. has no important executive powers but he is expected to have an interest in all government activities and policies as they make their impact on ordinary people. He is an agent both for the

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