TNAG-1329-FCO40-1756-Future-of-Hong-Kong-test-of-the-acceptability-of-the-Joint-D-1984 — Page 99

gislative Council in Hong Kong.

It will subsequently be

introduced by a Ministerial statement

Parliament

reconvenes.

in Parliament as soon as

4.

It is proposed that, in Hong Kong, the White Paper and the text of the Governor's statement to the Legislative Council should be

handled as follows:

(a) they will be distributed by the Hong Kong Government to the

Urban Council and all District Boards with an

an invitation to these bodies to make known their views;

(b) copies will be sent to selected representative and semi-representative bodies (including trade and industrial

associations, professional and academic bodies and other groups and organisations of standing in the community) with an invitation to

comment;

(c) the documents will be debated in the Legislative Council;

mass

(d) the documents will also be given wide publicity through the media. Copies will be made available in Government offices for free distribution to the general public, who will be invited to comment;

Representative bodies and the general public will be free to comment on any aspect of the draft Agreement.

5. The views expressed in response to the invitation for comments will need to be carefully assessed and presented to Parliament. There will also be indirect expressions of opinion (eg editorials and letters to newspapers). These will continue to be monitored

and taken into account.

4

6. To this end, a special assessment office will be

set up by the Hong Kong Government. It will be separate from the ordinary machinery of the Government, coming under the charge of a senior official and reporting direct to the Governor. It will undertake the task of collating, summarising, analysing and assessing expressions of view received either directly or through other parts