TNAG-1009-FCO40-1259-Appointments-of-senior-officials-in-Hong-Kong-and-Hong-Kong--1981 — Page 13

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The committees of district level officials known as

District Management Committees, established in recent years under the District Administration Scheme, has made

the process of government at district level more responsive

and achieved better inter-departmental coordination and greater efficiency in the provision of services.

But what

is still lacking is a direct input from local communities.

So District Boards will provide advice on matters affecting

the well-being of people living and working in each district, on the provision and use of public facilities and services

and on the use of public funds allocated to the district

for local public works and community activities. District

Boards should, in short, improve the impact of Government

at the district level and stimulate a greater degree of

local participation in it.

21.

Most of the boards have already been established,

but with all the unofficial members appointed by the Governor.

The necessary preparations, both statutory and administrative,

for elections to be held to return a number of elected

unofficial members to the boards are well advanced. Nearly

200,000 electors have been registered in the New Territories for the elections to be held there in March next year and

there will be a further exercise to register electors for

the urban elections to be held in September..

22. Even from this very brief outline, it should be clear

that District Boards are more than just a logical extension

of the Government's opinion gathering machinery. Certainly,

they will serve to establish what people are thinking as

regards their districts and how they would wish to see them develop. But, more importantly, it is the Government's

fervent hope that the boards will foster community spirit at

district level and give local residents an opportunity to

bring their influence to bear on Government policies and

practices as they affect their districts. The quality

of life in a particular district will thus depend increasingly

and quite properly

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on the residents of that district,

/through..