Council to make its responsibilities territory-wide, but this is unlikely to be the right solution. There will be a call for some powers to be delegated from the Urban Council to the District Boards as soon as the Boards have settled down. These issues have implications for the organisation of Hong Kong Government departments. I have commissioned a study of them and of related questions within the Secretariat as part of the normal work on the future organisation of local government here.
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There are other open actions which will need to be taken eg the new appointments to the Executive and Legislative Councils which will have to take effect from 1st September. Among other things it is my intention to appoint two members from among the elected members of the District Boards and an additional member from among the elected members of the Urban Council. The Chinese should have no cause to complain about these measures which are consonant with existing arrangements.
8.
I have tried to keep all this in mind in designing a plan which should allow for a programme of increased participation in government by the people of Hong kong while making it difficult for the Chinese to take issue with it. In particular my "collegiate" elective approach to the problem of selecting members of the Legislative Council seeks to build, as far as possible, on elections at the lower levels which already take place.
9.
We shall continue to work on these ideas. We shall also need to consider the stages at which we should bring the various elements in it forward for consideration by the Executive Council, and then for discussion in the public domain.
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