TNAG-0210-FCO40-246-Briefs-and-background-notes-for-visit-of-Deputy-Under-Secret-1969 — Page 25

CONFIDENTIAL

Report of Ad Hoc Committee of Urban Council

Dichenor Referr

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.

CONFIDENTIAL

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