Party's recommendations is at Annex C
Repo of the 16.
Ad Hoc Committee
At the same time, an ad hoc committee of unofficial
of Urban Councilmembers of the Urban Council produced its own report for the
Dickinson Report
future scope and operation of the Council. This report (see
summary at Annex 8) 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.
17. 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.
18.
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 (see summary at Annex D). His 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.
/19.
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