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enthusiasm of many of the young administrative officers I met, both Chinese and expatriate. If the Government can keep them, and on the whole they do, the Public Service will be well staffed at senior levels in the 1980's and 90's.
The New Towns
20. I visited two of the three new towns in the New Territories, Tuen Mun and Sha Tin. They are being built in areas which were previously lightly populated, and much of the land involved has been, or is being reclaimed from the sea. Both are now vast build- ing sites, but Tuen Mun is expected to have a population of 344,000 by 1984-5, and Sha Tin 500000 by 1985 and I see no reason, short of a major recession, why these targets should not be met. Because they are being built largely from scratch, it has been possible to plan balanced communities, and cultural and recreation facilities are being developed at the same time as housing and industry. Though housing densities will necessarily be far higher than would be acceptable in Europe, they will provide a much more attractive environment than that to be found in most other parts of Hong Kong, and could well become showpieces for Asia. I was much impressed with the dedication and enthusiasm of the officials and profess- ional men responsible for the planning and execution of the se immense projects.
UMELCO and Urban Council
21. I had a well-attended meeting and lunch with unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils. The main point of this was to get my face known, but we also had some useful discussion. My meeting with the Urban Council was less successful: only four members, including the Chairman turned up and only one of those was an elected member.
22.
In the absence of democratically elected institutions it is clearly important to broaden the social base of the Councils so as to make them more representative of the people of Hong Kong as a whole. Since we tend to complain that not enough has ben done in this direction, it is fair to record that the occupations and social backgrounds of UMELCO are a good deal more varied than they used to be when I was last in Hong Kong. I was also struck by the number of people who mentioned the Governor's determination to bring new faces into LegCo and to explore hitherto little-tapped sources of candidates. For example, the network of committees established at city district level has already thrown up one or two possible can- didates, and others may follow. City District Officers showed them- selves very well aware of the importance of identifying articulate people capable of reflecting accurately public opinion in their areas.
23. The Urban Council does not seem to enjoy a very high reputation outside its own circle. Officials complained of muddle of the Council's failure to spend all revenue available to it (it has rec- eived a fixed percentage of the rates since 1973) and a preoccupation with prestige projects. On the other hand, most people acknowledged that the Urban Council was doing pretty well in basic functions like supervising markets and keeping the streets clean.
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