TNAG-0269-FCO40-305-Reform-of-local-government-of-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 19

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CONFIDENTIAL

Note No. 11

Existing Local Government Bodies

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Hong Kong Urban Council at present has statutory responsibility for operating the basic sanitary services in the urban areas of Hong Kong/Kowloon and a variety of other duties in the field of public health, such as the super- vision of food premises, hawkers, operation of slaughter houses and pest control: it also has responsibilities for the removal and resettlement of squatters within the urban areas. It is empowered to make bye-laws for the regulation and control of these matters, subject to the approval of the Legislative Council. It has, however, no rating powers and its responsibilities are carried out through the Urban Services Department (a Government department), the Director of which is Chairman of the Council. In addition to the Chairman, the Council consists of 5 ex-officio and 20 unofficial members, of whom 10 are elected and 10 are appointed by the Governor. The term of office of the unofficial members is four

years.

In

Urban Council elections, at which half of the elected seats are contested, are held bi-annually. spite of considerable coverage in the press and radio public interest is low.

2.

In 1965 the decision was taken to extend the

franchise fur Urban Council elections to an estimated

240,000 people: in the event less than 30,000 persons registered as electürs. The number of voters in the 1969 elections was 8, 178.

CONFIDENTIAL

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