Reference..
witt (4)
Mr. Carter
The report enclosed with the attached letter from the Governor to Sir Arthur Galsworthy is an interesting one. I have sidelined certain passages in it which seem to me to be of particular import.
2.
It was, of course, inevitable that the scheme would meet with the usual teething troubles, but although it has been going for only a short time it seems clear that it is meeting a definite need in the particular circumstances of Hong Kong. Finding the necessary staff has obviously presented problems: these have arisen, in part, from the fact that the City District Officers have no executive functions of any consequence since the type of man required to make the scheme a success is precisely the type which looks for and is capable of efficiently carrying out such functions. (paragraphs 7-9). It seems likely that the scheme may yield unexpected bonuses as by-products of the information which will undoubtedly become available to the Government as a result of the activities of the staff concerned. There are already indications of this (paragraphs 20-24 and 93). Paragraphs 34-45 are of some sig- nificance as indicating the efforts being made to establish contact with the lower echelons of the social strata and the Government is likely to obtain a worm's-eye view of its policies, which will be quite a good thing (paragraph 41). It was inevitable that City District Officers would run up against some difficulties in departmental reactions to their activities (paragraphs 46-52), but no doubt experience on the part of both parties will help to overcome these problems. The idea that City District Officers should be assisted by some form of consultative council or committee is one that has been suggested since before the scheme was actually launched and paragraphs 77-80 describe the action so far taken to explore the possibility of this. However, it appears that the experience so far obtained suggests that it would be wrong to move in the direction of any single local advisory body at this stage.
3. The scheme has undoubtedly got off to a good start, but it would be premature to form any conclusion on the eventual outcome.
4. A draft reply to the Governor's letter is attached.
13 March, 1969
Mr. Moreton
AG
(A. W. Gaminara)
Hong Kong Department
Sir Arthur Galsworthy
In my view the establishment of the City
District Officers Scheme is one of the most important measures introduced by the Hong Kong Government in recent years (although it can, of course, be represented as no more than an extension of the functions performed in the past by the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs). That the Governor also attaches great importance to it is evidenced by his
/ insistence
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