}
New Terri-
tories
Report of Official Working Party
bury difference?
less than on the old register. The number of voters in the June 1967 elections was 10,189 or 38.8% of registered
electors.
The New Territories are administered by District Officers
under the District Commissioner, with the assistance of rural committees elected by and from village representatives. There
is also a consultative council for the whole of the New
Territories (Heung Yee Kuk); its functions are entirely
advisory.
Proposals for Reorganisation
5. In view of the spread of urban development into the New Territories and of pressure from the elected members of Urban Council to extend their authority into those areas, the
Governor announced early in 1966 that he had decided to institute a re-examination of local government generally. As a first step an official working party was set up to gather information on the possible forms of local government suitable to Hong Kong and to suggest lines of development for further study and debate.
6. The Working Party's report was published early in 1967. It recommended the creation of a number of urban authorities
on the lines of English practice though with somewhat reduced powers and functions and a greater degree of supervision and control by central government. Under their proposals a Municipal Council would be set up for the urban areas of
Hong Kong and one, or possibly two, others for Kowloon and New Kowloon. An Urban District Council was suggested for Tsuen Wan but apart from this the working party saw no good reason for changes in the New Territories' administration
which was generally regarded as satisfactory by the inhabitants. All the new Councils would have a majority of. members elected on a liberal franchise but a system of appointed members would be retained to guard against the possible failure of the elective principle. The report
was not unanimous, one member being in favour of a single
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Report of Ad Hoc Committee of Urban Council
Dichenon
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authority for Hong Kong and Kowloon and three members suggesting an interim stage of regional Consultative Councils to educate the public in democratic procedures.
7. At the same time, an ad hoc committee of unofficial members of the Urban Council produced its own report for the future scope and operation of the Council. This report was accepted by the Urban Council in October 1966 (official members abstaining). It proposed that there should be a "greater Hong Kong Council" or "municipal assembly" covering the whole of the Colony which should have administrative responsibility for "strictly internal matters" other than security. This Council would be supported by subordinate District Councils established initially for Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. The report was in essence another bid by the Urban Council unofficials to extend the Council's authority and it bore many signs of over-hasty preparation. Press comment on its publication was critical particularly in regard to the cost and the complications of the proposals.
8.
The two reports were the subject of official examination and of public comment in Hong Kong, but developments were delayed by the Communist confrontation in the Colony during the last eight months of 1967 and it seemed clear that once the situation had returned to normal a fresh look at them would be necessary in the light of the change in circumstances.
9. Early in 1968 a Secretariat Officer (W. V. Dickinson) was directed, working independently, to work out a possible alternative to large-scale changes, based on improving the existing institutions. This officer completed his report in March 1968; in the summer of that year, the Urban Council and the Heung Yee Kuk were given a summary of Mr. Dickinson's recommendations and were asked for their comments on it. The recommendations, which are designed to produce interim measures for early implementation, do not imply the rejection of some of the wider proposals canvassed in the Working Party's report.
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10.
The Dickinson proposals are as follows:-
(i) Structure of local administration: the report has left untouched the area of jurisdiction of the present Urban Council (to be renamed Municipal Council) and has proposed only one new creation, that of a local authority for the "new town" of Tsuen Wan in the New
Territories.
(ii) Franchise: it is recommended that the existing franchise should be continued for at least four years, until a much more soundly conceived and rational basis can be found.
(iii) Composition: it is recommended that the Municipal
Council should have a majority of elected members (22 elected: 20 nominated) and that officials should
cease to be members. For Tsuen Wan, where under the
existing franchise only a small fraction of the residents (who are mainly of the artisan class) would qualify to register as voters, it is proposed that the District Officer should be constituted the local authority assisted by an advisory council of officials and a majority of nominated unofficial members.
(iv) Functions: a wider range of functions is proposed for
the Municipal Council, some mandatory (e.g. existing public health functions) and some permissive (e.g. in field of education and medical services). The hope is expressed that this would be regarded as only an initial allocation of functions, additions being made as
circumstances and standard of performance allow.
(v) Financial Responsibility: Councils should have their
own estimates, financial control being exercised by the central government through approval of estimates.
Revenues from rates should be shared between central government and local authorities, collection remaining the responsibility of the former. Certain forms of licensing revenue might be paid to local authorities. Grants in aid should be payable by the central
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