shop window displays about it if we are to be of full use. This would be in addition to arranging as many meetings as experts could be found to address.
44. There is some departmental reluctance to get material out. It is natural for an expert to want to get to grips direct with critics or anyone who is really interested, but he reduces his coverage if this is all he does. When we have been told that issues are too complicated to be put simply our reply is that if government thinking cannot be explained to sympathetic and not unintelligent people like C.D.O.s how can the message be put over to the man in the street? Much of the poor impression people have about government's performance is not held by people in intimate contact with the departments concerned. It is held by ordinary people not directly involved who know only what they see in the papers or gather in gossip. It is to put right these bad impressions that we need inundation with plain man's guides to what the government is up to. I do not think a circular or an instruction from the Secretariat can put this right. We shall have to tackle the problem direct on specific issues with departments.
45. Straightforward inter-departmental co-ordination undertaken by C.D.O.s has been rare and there is some reluctance to call them in. A great many government activities require the co-operation of several departments and standing arrangements have developed. C.D.O.s have however undertaken some co-ordination when they have spotted some- thing amiss which is the concern of several departments, and have been called in more frequently when inter-departmental co-ordination requires also participation by or co-operation with the public.
46.
The request by the Urban Council for C.D.O.s to form Hawker Consultative Committees has been the first major request for C.D.O.s to undertake a co-ordinating role. This request did however follow several occasions when C.D.O.s joined in discussions on hawker operations. They have also been brought in on tidying up and cleansing operations, to encourage interest in town plans, and when there has been some local festivity or party e.g. the Aberdeen Dragon Boat Races.
47. Cases where C.D.O.s have taken the initiative in bringing together departments to tackle a problem have included the survey of dangerous boulders and storm drainage in the Shau Kei Wan squatter areas, nuisances not obviously being tackled, and the establishment of local disaster organizations.
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