The report gave thought to the degree of control which ought to be exercised over these new 'creatures of statute' by the Central Government under the Letters Patent & Royal Instructions which were Hong Kong's constitution. Legco should provide by law for central:
(a) right of access to all records, approval and inspection of project plans in certain fields, approval of by-laws, and issue of binding memoranda on such matters as financial procedures;
(b) financial approval or disallowance of annual estimates and loans, and the setting of a rate where a council failed to strike a sufficient or any rate;
(c) audit, including power of surcharge subject to Exco's confirmation; and
(d) direction, removal of powers or dissolution of defaulting local authorities.
Office accommodation, distinct from any existing for current government purposes, should be provided in advance. Finally, the details of each separate proposal for a new local authority council should be the subject of an inquiry and wide local public consultation before the relevant instrument received approval. The enabling Ordinance should be supported by a large-scale information campaign, to dispel the current lack of awareness. The present Urban Council should co-operate in devising a phased programme for implementation.
The report was submitted just as the 1966-67 'troubles' were beginning to afflict the streets and resettlement estates of Hong Kong. Little Red Books and parcel bombs preoccupied the Governor and his security advisers, and the Colonial Secretariat which gave the report a lukewarm reception was happy to leave it in the pending trays and to slumber in the background, while other officers placed on special duties dealt with the emergency with panache and publicity hitherto quite unknown in the colony. Just as great post-war events across the border up to 1949 had given reason for Hong Kong's governing minds to forget about Young's municipal proposals, so in 1967 the Cultural Revolution seemed excuse enough to concentrate on civil stability and to forget local participation in the daily administration of public life.
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The report gave thought to the degree of control which ought to be exercised over these new 'creatures of statute' by the Central Government under the Letters Patent & Royal Instructions which were Hong Kong's constitution. Legco should provide by law for central:
(a) right of access to all records, approval and inspection of project plans in certain fields, approval of by-laws, and issue of binding memoranda on such matters as financial procedures;
(b) financial approval or disallowance of annual estimates and loans, and the setting of a rate where a council failed to strike a sufficient or any rate;
(c) audit, including power of surcharge subject to Exco's
confirmation; and
(d) direction, removal of powers or dissolution of defaulting local
authorities.
Office accommodation, distinct from any existing for current government purposes, should be provided in advance. Finally, the details of each separate proposal for a new local authority council should be the subject of an inquiry and wide local public consultation before the relevant instrument received approval. The enabling Ordinance should be supported by a large-scale information campaign, to dispel the current lack of ‘awareness. The present Urban Council should co- operate in devising a phased programme for implementation.
The report was submitted just as the 1966-67 'troubles' were beginning to afflict the streets and resettlement estates of Hong Kong. Little Red Books and parcel bombs preoccupied the Governor and his security advisers, and the Colonial Secretariat which gave the report a lukewarm reception was happy to leave it in the pending trays and to slumber in the background, while other officers placed on special duties dealt with the emergency with panache and publicity hitherto quite unknown in the colony. Just as great post-war events across the border up to 1949 had given reason for Hong Kong's governing minds to forget about Young's municipal proposals, so in 1967 the Cultural Revolution seemed excuse enough to concentrate on civil stability and to forget local participation in the daily administration of public life.
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