TNAG-2289-FCO40-3293-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Basic-Law-1991 — Page 5

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

From the above suggestions, it can be seen that the majority of people in Hong Kong felt that these district organizations ought either to be kept or to be amalgamated and there were only a very few who felt that they should be disbanded. Therefore, the Drafting Committee of the Hong Kong Basic Law, recognized that district organizations should be set up and there was no need to disband them.

Many people in Hong Kong recognize that there are at present 3 levels of Government in Hong Kong: the first level consists of the Governor, the Executive Council and the Legislative Council; the second level is that in the middle, the Urban Council and the Regional Council; and the third level was the District Boards. In the 6 main categories of opinion described above, some felt that these 3 levels should be maintained; some felt that there should be just 2 levels, one consisting of the Urban and Regional Councils and the other of the Executive and Legislative Councils led by the Governor; some felt that the Urban and Regional Councils should be dissolved but the District Boards should be kept and they should constitute one level with the Executive Council and Legislative Council headed by the Governor constituting the other. The Basic Law contains no provision as to whether there should be 2 or 3 levels of Government after July 1997; it just provides for the establishment of District-level Organizations and the question of the formula establishment of various levels of Government is left to the Hong Kong SAR to decide flexibly on its own.

The Basic Law also clearly lays down the nature of the district organizations, that is, that they should be non-political. Political power is the power of controlling and administering the state. Non-political, means that they do not have governing powers. As the district organizations will not have governing powers they will have not the power to administer local political affairs. In other words, this provision makes it clear that these district organizations are advisory organizations or are basically advisory organizations.

The nature of the district organizations can be seen from their tasks: the Urban Council was originally the Department of Health established in 1883 and was responsible for matters of health and hygiene. In 1935 it was changed into the Urban Council. And in 1973, there was a further reform which allowed for it to be made up entirely of non-official members of whom one-half were elected by the people and one-half appointed by the Governor. According to the regulations for the Urban Council, the Urban Council is a statutory body with financial independence. After the 1973 reform "The powers of the Urban Council were shrunk. Before 1973, the monthly meeting of the Urban Council had been able to discuss policies affecting the whole of Hong Kong in communications, housing and social welfare and had been able to ask questions of the Government. But after 1973, its standing orders were altered and the monthly meeting could only discuss matters that fell within the jurisdiction of the Urban Council and members of the Council could not ask questions of the Government any longer. From this point of view, although the Urban Council maintained its

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