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of the Village Representatives in their communities, and, taken together with other available information, would furnish a basis for assessing the kind of men who have come forward as leaders.
44. But leadership cannot be studied simply by enumerating characteristics. The Village Representative operates within economic, legal, religious, political, and 'social' fields all of which need to be examined; and he is enmeshed in complex relationships with people both inside and outside his community. These are matters for detailed field studies and they can most conveniently be examined in the course of investigations concerned very broadly with the life of particular communities. And it is to be hoped that a large enough variety of communities will be studied for all major variations in leadership patterns to emerge.
45. In the old days, as we have seen, there was much scope for the exercise of leadership in intervillage relations; the central government being remote, the responsibility for local affairs fell on gentry and elders. The field for the deployment of local governmental talents has now contracted, but it becomes all the more important to discover just what it is that extra-village politics entails. In the study of this theme the Rural Committees (and perhaps ultimately the Heung Yee Kuk) must take first place, but these are not the only wide associations to be looked into. Chambers of commerce, the associations for particular businesses, co-operative societies, sports clubs, and so on, are bodies within which certain men take the initiative, rally support, and—since we are dealing with a society in the full flood of change—direct group activities along new paths.
46. I have touched on the role of the Village Representative in settling disputes. To understand the present legal situation in the New Territories it would be desirable to begin with an analysis of the relevant work of the District Officers and Rural Committees, and I suggest that it might be of interest to the District Officers to undertake a survey of the cases that have come before them in recent years, classifying them by their nature and describing the typical courses they have taken. This work could then be brought into relation with material on the cases heard in the various law courts to which New Territories people have recourse. Again, such field studies of communities as may be made by anthropologists would show how differences are settled at the local level or passed to outsiders for mediation or judgment. If a field study were made
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of the Village Representatives in their communities, and, taken together with other available information, would furnish a basis for assessing the kind of men who have come forward as leaders. 44. But leadership cannot be studied simply by enumerating characteristics. The Village Representative operates within econo- mic, legal, religious, political, and 'social' fields all of which need to be examined; and he is enmeshed in complex relationships with people both inside and outside his community. These are matters for detailed field studies and they can most conveniently be examined in the course of investigations concerned very broadly with the life of particular communities. And it is to be hoped that a large enough variety of communities will be studied for all major variations in leadership patterns to emerge.
45. In the old days, as we have seen, there was much scope for the exercise of leadership in intervillage relations; the central government being remote, the responsibility for local affairs fell on gentry and elders. The field for the deployment of local govern- mental talents has now contracted, but it becomes all the more important to discover just what it is that extra-village politics entails. In the study of this theme the Rural Committees (and perhaps ultimately the Heung Yee Kuk) must take first place, but these are not the only wide associations to be looked into. Chambers of commerce, the associations for particular businesses, co-operative societies, sports clubs, and so on, are bodies within which certain men take the initiative, rally support, and—since we are dealing with a society in the full flood of change--direct group activities along new paths.
46. I have touched on the role of the Village Representative in settling disputes. To understand the present legal situation in the New Territories it would be desirable to begin with an analysis of the relevant work of the District Officers and Rural Committees, and I suggest that it might be of interest to the District Officers to undertake a survey of the cases that have come before them in recent years, classifying them by their nature and describing the typical courses they have taken. This work could then be brought into relation with material on the cases heard in the various law courts to which New Territories people have recourse. Again, such field studies of communities as may be made by anthropologists would show how differences are settled at the local level or passed to outsiders for mediation or judgment. If a field study were made
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