CONFIDENTIAL
BACKGROUND NOTE
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The Heung Yee Kuk
1. The Heung Yee Kuk (Rural Consultative Council) was established in 1923 and is the statutory advisory body on New Territories' matters. The Council consists of the Chairman and Vice Chairmen of 27 Rural Committees (which are in turn elected by and from among some 900 village representatives), the New Territories Justices of the Peace, and 21 specially elected Councillors. Council forms the principal central link between the Hong Kong Government and the original inhabitants of the New Territories and it is consulted frequently on a wide range of government policies affecting the New Territories.
2.
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The present delegation consists of 14 members, including wives. It is led by Mr CHUNG Yan-lung, the Vice Chairman and, during the current illness of the Kuk's Chairman, Acting Chairman of the Kuk. (The Chairman, Mr CHAN Yak-san, suffered a mild stroke at the end of last year.) The Kuk last sent a delegation (of 36 members) to the UK in June 1973, eight of whom called on the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Mr (now Sir) Anthony Royle MP.
3.
The Kuk have petitioned Lord Goronwy-Roberts twice over the past two years or so; once in February 1975 and once in July 1976. Both petitions dealt with the Hong Kong Government's arrangements for the acquisition of, and payment of compensation for, land in
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1975
Recent months have seen considerably greater activity by the Kuk than in past years. This is partly because the Hong Kong Government have encouraged the formation of other consultative bodies in the New Territories, such as the Mutual Aid Committees in public housing estates, sports and cultural organizations and Chambers of Commerce, whose existence the Kuk consider a threat to their own status. The problem over the establishment of other consultative bodies in the New Territories is a reflection of the massive immigration into the New Territories of people from Hong Kong, and Kowloon, partly as a result of the establishment of new towns. The Kuk represent the original inhabitants of the New Territories
CONFIDENTIAL
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