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CONFIDENTIAL
27. Mr. Wong maintained that it was essential to bring to a conclusion the proposals put forward about the Urban Council. The Dickinson Report was by and large not too bad. It did not harm and could only bring good since it provided for the ventilation of grievances.
Several members stressed that Mr. Wong's view was
not shared by the majority of UMELCO
28. Lord Shepherd said that quite clearly there was not much difference in object between anyone who had spoken toda The problem was how to achieve the desired ends.
29. Lord Shepherd said that members had rightly praised the DCO scheme. Its success was not due to the scheme itself but in its operation by the young Chinese District Officers. They were dealing with something like 70-100 cases a day. The scheme had demonstrated in his view the need for an ombudsman, or someone similar. He had on his earlier visit to the Colony in 1967 put forward the idea of an ombudsman, though he now ceded that there were difficulties in setting up such a post in Hong Kong. He suggested that perhaps consideration might be given to the setting up of a secretariat, in a separate office, to act on behalf of the UMELCO in dealing with complaints of maladministration from the public. A high-powered secretary could call for papers and if he was unable to put a matter right himself, he could then put it to members of UMELCO. Such a scheme would give the man in the street yet another peep at the workings of Government. He wondered whether such an idea commended itself.
30. Mr. Gordon said that UMELCO was already working along similar lines. They already had an office and a
secretariat.
31. Sir AlbertRodrigues said that he would accept that,if UMELCO could get a secretary of the right calibre, he should be given executive functions.
CONFIDENTIAL
32./
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