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LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS'S VISIT TO HONG KONG:
11-17 JANUARY
BRIEF NO. 8: CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
1.
The brief submitted to Lord Goronwy-Roberts for his recent meeting with the Governor is attached, together with the Governor's letter of 10 December to the Department.
2.
The Governor told Lord Goronwy-Roberts at their meeting that (quite apart from the Chinese dimension) it was not clear that people in Hong Kong were interested in the electoral process. He also confirmed that he does not think any precipitate action should be taken to introduce a Member system or to broaden the membership of Legislative Council. He considers that the most promising means of widening the representation on LegCo might be to appoint, in a few years' time, one or two of the natural leaders who are already beginning to emerge from the new Mutual Aid Committees (of which there are now about 1,600, covering about one million people). Lord Goronwy-Roberts may be questioned by the press on this subject and we have therefore recommended appropriate answers to likely press questions in a separate brief.
3. Lord Goronwy-Roberts may also be asked his views on the City District Officer gheme. The ten City District Offices (four in Hong Kong and six in Kowloon) were established in 1968 in order to overcome some of the political disadvantages presented at a local level by a centralised administration based on functional rather than regional divisions. Each district is in the charge of an administrative officer, who heads a staff of liaison officers.
The District Offices play a useful role in explaining government policies and actions to the public, reporting on local reaction, keeping contact with local organisations, co-ordinating the activities of government departments in their districts, and operating a public enquiry and complaints service.
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept.
6 January 1975
CONFIDENTIAL covering SECRET
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