[
    {
        "id": 209346,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 5,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "CONTENTS\n\nPage\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT\n\nviii\n\nADDRESS BY DR. J.W. HAYES\n\nxiv\n\nADDRESS BY REV. C.T. SMITH\n\nxvii\n\nTREASURER'S REPORT\n\nxviii\n\nLIBRARIAN'S REPORT\n\nxxi\n\nARTICLES:\n\nStructure and Function in an Urban Organization:\n\nThe Mutual Aid Committees JANET LEE\n\nSCOTT\n\n1\n\nOrigin and Development of the Political System in the\n\nShanghai International Settlement J.H. HAAN\n\n31\n\nThe Strike and Riot of 1884 A Hong Kong\n\nPerspective - ELIZABETH SINN\n\n65\n\nThe New Constitution and China's Emerging Legal System in Perspective W. ALLYN RICKETT\n\nTwo Chinese Domestic Murders\n\nLETHBRIDGE\n\n99\n\nH.J.\n\n118\n\nPhonology of a Cantonese Dialect of the New Territories: Kat Hing Wai -- LAURENT\n\nSAGART\n\n142\n\nSaikung, The Making of the District and its Experience during World War II-DAVID\n\nFAURE\n\n161\n\nThe Hong Kong Amateur Dramatic Club and its\n\nPredecessors - CARL T. SMITH\n\n217\n\nVillage Education in Transition: The Case of Sheung\n\nShui — NG LUN NGAI-HA\n\n252\n\nV",
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    {
        "id": 209366,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 23,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN AN URBAN ORGANIZATION: THE MUTUAL AID COMMITTEES\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT*\n\nThe Mutual Aid Committees (MACs), or as they are more commonly known in Hong Kong, were first established in June of 1973. They are organizations composed of residents of a building, or more rarely, a group of buildings, and have the dual aims of promoting a sense of friendship and mutual reliance among all authorized tenants and of cooperating to promote better security, a better environment and more effective management generally (City and New Territories Administration 1982:1).\n\nWhy are Mutual Aid Committees established? Investigations and interviews with government officials carried out during 1976-1978 suggested the following reasons. The first was the desire of the Hong Kong Government to improve communication with the people of Hong Kong. The MACs were originally created under directives from the Home Affairs Department, and came under the jurisdiction of the City District Offices, themselves set up under the City District Officers Scheme of 1968. As one writer described this Scheme:\n\nThe CDO Scheme was announced at the beginning of 1968, but the first CDOs were appointed in the middle of that year. The Scheme divides the urban areas into ten districts: four on Hong Kong Island and six in Kowloon. A City District Commissioner on each side of the harbor coordinates the work of the CDOs, each of whom has liaison and other duties.\n\n* Dr. Janet Lee Scott is a member of the Department of Anthropology, New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research on the Mutual Aid Committees was supported by a grant from the Institute of Social Studies of the Chinese University. Doctoral dissertation research carried out during 1976-1978 was supported by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant, an N.D.F.L. fellowship awarded through Cornell University, and a grant from the Cornell Center for International Studies. The author wishes to express her appreciation for such generous financial support.",
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    {
        "id": 209367,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 24,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "2\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nstaff amounting to around a dozen in all. The SCA [Secretary for Chinese Affairs: this title was later changed to Secretary for Home Affairs] is put in overall responsibility for the working of the Scheme. The CDOs are specifically enjoined to a) assess the overall impact of government policies, to explain these policies as well as the difficulties and the achievements of the Government to ordinary people, b) to initiate proposals for the new policies or new procedure when the need for these becomes apparent from the feeling of the public, and c) to become aware of problems and conflicts and trends of public thinking before attitudes have been struck. In short, the new CDO Scheme is a response of Government to the public's by-now-hackneyed outcry for 'closing the gap between the Government and the people' (Wong 1972:223).\n\nAn official source from 1975 gave a similar description:\n\nThis [Home Affairs] department runs the City District Office Scheme, which was introduced in 1968 to improve communication between the government and people. There are 10 City District Offices and 12 sub-offices in the most crowded urban areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Throughout the urban areas, these offices provide a point of contact with the government where even the humblest citizen can go for help in the knowledge that he will be courteously treated, patiently heard and helpfully advised (Government Information Services 1975:211).\n\nThe Mutual Aid Committees, it was felt, would help the District Offices achieve this aim of improved communication, as they would offer their members opportunities to participate in local affairs, and to express their opinions to the Government.\n\nA second reason for establishing Mutual Aid Committees was to aid the authorities in the promotion of various social campaigns. As described in 1980:\n\nIn 1973 the Hong Kong government decided to take action against two major city problems: a rising crime rate and an accelerating deterioration of the living and working conditions in a number of residential and business units. The plan of action included the launching of two campaigns, the",
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    {
        "id": 209368,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 25,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "Keep Hong Kong Clean campaign and the Fight Violent Crime campaign. Existing community organizations were called upon to give their services (Scott 1980: 18).\n\nThe Mutual Aid Committees, designed as they were with a residence-based structure, would also be useful organizations to mobilize for the promotion of these campaigns, and some district officials suggested that this possibility was in mind when the committees were established.\n\nA third, equally important, reason for establishing the Mutual Aid Committees was the desire of the government and concerned private citizens to improve the neighbourliness of high-rise buildings and multi-storey blocks. More specifically, government officials were becoming more concerned about cooperation and safety.\n\nWhen crime reared its head in these surroundings, the instinctive reaction was to retreat behind locked doors and ignore whatever might be happening outside. Prospects for neighbourly co-operation made little headway under these circumstances, and the concept of getting together with one's fellow tenants, to organize collective action for the common good, remained remote and unreal (Government Information Services 1974:9).\n\nThe formation of the MACs was hailed as a step forward in improving residents' concern for each other and in improving living conditions.\n\nThe tradition of mutual aid originally grew up in a rural setting. Today this tradition is being harnessed to tackle urban social problems found in the management of multi-storey buildings under divided ownership. The mutual aid committee is a simple form of organization which can be set up with a minimum of formality, enabling owners and tenants to work together to improve conditions in their buildings. Although the basic aim of the movement is building management, it is already clear that the mutual aid committee has the potential to meet other needs; in particular the need to replace the social links that disappeared with the decline of traditional forms of village life. A sense of",
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    {
        "id": 209369,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 26,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "4\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nneighbourliness is already developing in some multi-storey blocks where mutual aid committees have been set up, and people are now getting to know their neighbours in a way which seemed impossible before (Government Information Services 1974:9).\n\nThat the Mutual Aid Committees were believed to be succeeding in these endeavours, and for that reason were being promoted by the Hong Kong government, is suggested by evaluations made of the Scheme early in its history. Apparently, public opinion towards the committees was so favourable during the first years that an early decision was made to continue the formation of the MACs.1 In 1974, it was stated that \"Mutual Aid Committees should be regarded as a permanent requirement in helping to ensure a stable society and that the legal requirement for registration, i.e. exemption from registration as societies under the Societies Ordinance provided they were approved by the Director of Home Affairs (or the Secretary for the New Territories, outside the urban area), would be continued\" (Director of Home Affairs 1974:5). Such official support was to continue. During interviews conducted in 1976 and again in 1978, liaison officers of the City District Offices of the Wong Tai Sin and Mong Kok Districts were still expressing their satisfaction with committee operation. Further confirmation of committee success, in terms of organization, can be seen in the increased number of committees formed. At the end of their first year, 1973, a total of 1,214 MACs were formed (Government Information Services 1974:9), but by the end of 1981, this figure had risen to 3,573 (Government Information Services 1982:248). At present (to the end of February, 1983) the figure has risen to 3,752.\n\nIf the Mutual Aid Committees have been considered as valuable organizations by the City District Offices, they have been equally valued by others. Since their inception, the Mutual Aid Committees have proved themselves useful settings in which to investigate such diverse topics as the adjustments of the elderly (Ikels 1983), the delivery of community health services (Grandpierre 1978), and the dimensions of women's participation in urban organizations (Scott 1980). Other scholars have chosen to study the Mutual Aid Committees because they are neighbourhood associations, and thus can be used to explore the",
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    {
        "id": 209370,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 27,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "5\n\nrelationship of these groups to bureaucratic institutions in terms of the neighborhood associations' autonomy, effectiveness, and satisfaction\" (Jones, Ho, Chau, Lam, and Mok 1978: i). Other studies will no doubt appear in the future, using the Mutual Aid Committees as a base for the investigation of still other problems.\n\nThere are perhaps many reasons for this scholarly popularity, but a major characteristic of Mutual Aid Committees, one that makes it possible for them to serve as a starting point for so many studies is their flexibility. This characteristic has already been alluded to, in the sense of \"the lack of barriers to committee membership and participation\" (Scott 1980:213). However, the flexibility of the committees can also be seen through an examination of their basic structure and function. It is this structure, its variations, and the functions performed that form the subject of this paper. The following discussion (with the exception of certain data gathered during the previous research period of 1976-1978) is based on research conducted at Lok Fu Estate, Kowloon.\n\nThe Research Area Lok Fu Estate\n\nLok Fu Estate is one of six subdivisions making up the Lok Fu Area Committee Area. In its turn, this Area is coterminous with one of the twelve District Board Constituencies established for the Wong Tai Sin District. The Area is bounded by Junction Road, Tung Tau Chuen Road, and Fung Mo Street. By the end of 1982, the total population of Lok Fu Estate was approximately 20,000, out of a total of 31,000 for the entire Area and 524,000 for the entire Wong Tai Sin District (Wong Tai Sin District Report 1982:271). The first blocks of Lok Fu Estate itself were under construction by 1955, at what was then called Lo Fu Ngam (虎崗) (Tiger Hill). However, residents felt that such a name was inauspicious and so it was later changed to Lok Fu (樂富) (Happy and Wealthy). By the end of 1956, the twenty-three blocks of the Lok Fu Resettlement Estate had been completed, twelve blocks of the Mark I type and eleven of the Mark II style (Wong Tai Sin District Report 1982:271-272). At present, many of these blocks have been converted. For example, the individual units in Blocks #6-9 and #11 have been",
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    {
        "id": 209371,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 28,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "6\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nenlarged and redecorated. Described as \"semi-self-contained\" units, these blocks have inside kitchens but detached toilets, and have had their centre walls removed to enlarge the over-all space. Block #21, however, has self-contained toilets in each unit. Blocks #1-4, #10, #12, #22, and #23 can be referred to as \"tap and toilet improvement\" blocks as their communal toilets have been replaced by individual, key toilets for each household. Block #5 is a \"special\" block in so far as self-contained flats were built in at the time it was erected (1959). In that sense, Block #5 is already \"converted\". The remaining Mark II Blocks (#13-#20) have been targeted for improvement.\n\nThere are now twenty-one Mutual Aid Committees established in Lok Fu Estate: Blocks #1-8, #10-20, #22, and #23 have committees. From January of 1982 to April of 1983, I interviewed the chairmen of eighteen of these Mutual Aid Committees as part of a research project to explore more fully the opinions of male members towards participation and problems of committee functioning. Such interviewing also enabled me to collect additional information on other matters relating to committee organization. The discussion presented in this paper is taken from these interviews, with additional background information collected during the previous research period of 1976-1978.*\n\nGeneral Organization\n\nThe Mutual Aid Committees of Lok Fu Estate follow the general design of committees found in other parts of Hong Kong, where the basic arrangement is to establish one committee for one building or residential block. This arrangement is the most common because it creates a neat structure that is easy to understand and administer. As public housing estates are arranged in blocks, the basic arrangement used here is one block, one committee. However, a complicating factor is the large population.\n\n* The author wishes to express her gratitude to these chairmen, and to the staff of the Tung Tau sub-office, Wong Tai Sin District Office, for their generous help. Special thanks goes to Ms. Winnie Yeung, Liaison Officer, Tung Tau sub-office for her advice and assistance. The author also wishes to thank Mr. H. S. Leung, Housing Manager, Lok Fu Estate, for his help.",
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    {
        "id": 209372,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 29,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "7\n\nTions living in many public housing estate blocks. As observed in 1980:\n\nOne of the largest estates where I interviewed, Tze Wan Shan Estate, is the largest in Hong Kong, housing well over 150,000 people. One of its blocks, Block #66, houses approximately 8,400 people. But it is not the largest. Across the street, Block #61, on the outer edge of the estate, houses nearly 9,900 people (Scott 1980:33).\n\nBlocks of this size, with such enormous resident populations, would make the standard arrangement not only impractical, but ridiculous. Yet, there have been some standard committees created under such situations. For example, in 1978 Blocks #62, #64, and #65 of Tze Wan Shan Estate, with a combined population of 11,000 inhabitants, were operating with one committee. Some blocks solve the population problem by dividing into floors; for example, one committee could be formed for, say, every three floors. In 1977, the Mutual Aid Committees of Block #23 of Tung Tau Estate, Wong Tai Sin District, were arranged in this way. It is also possible, if the block has wings, for each wing to have its own committee. Even with all these alternatives, there is probably no one perfect solution to the problem of committee allocation in public housing (Scott 1980:33).\n\n11\n\n“A Mutual Aid Committee must be approved by the District Officer/Assistant District Officer under delegated authority from the Secretary for District Administration on a biennial basis for the purpose of exemption from the Societies Ordinance (Cap. 151)” (City and New Territories Administration 1982:1).10 Each Mutual Aid Committee in Lok Fu Estate follows this rule and is registered for a period of two years. However, before October of 1981, the committees were registered for only one year. The lengthening of the registration period was felt to have a beneficial effect, as it would enable the committees to complete projects planned and generally function more efficiently. At the end of this time, each committee is reviewed by the District Officer or City District Officer and if found to be functioning without serious problems, its certificate is renewed. Each committee has its own biennial cycle, however, based on the time at",
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    {
        "id": 209373,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 30,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "8\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nwhich it was established, so that one committee's renewal date is different from the renewal dates of committees in other blocks. While most MACs have their certificates automatically renewed, a few may be suspended or dissolved. The 1982 Model Rules states on page six (of Section XIV, rule 14a, i-ii) that an MAC can be dissolved “\n\nupon expiry or the withdrawal of approval by the District Officer/Assistant District Officer,\" or at a General Meeting of heads of household in which a simple majority present resolve that the MAC be dissolved, provided that this majority represents not less than 20% of the householders in the Block.\"12\n\n44\n\n■\n\nDiscussions at the District Office, however, made it clear that the deregistration procedure is more complicated. First, if there is no interest shown by the residents and if no new officeholders can be elected, the committee can be suspended. Suspension can be for an indefinite period, during which staff from the District Office survey the opinions of the residents. If a minimum of 20% of those surveyed twice vote not to have a committee, then the committee moves from suspension to dissolution, and its remaining funds and equipment are donated for charitable purposes or used for welfare or recreational purposes, according to the wishes of the residents and subject to the approval of the District Officer or Assistant District Officer (City and New Territories Administration 1982:6).\n\nWhile conducting research previously, I only learned of a handful of committees in my sample areas of Wong Tai Sin and Mong Kok Districts, mostly those formed during the early stages of the Mutual Aid Committee Scheme, that had ceased to exist. Most were disbanded, I was told, because there was absolutely no enthusiasm left for the committee, and because of that, it was doing nothing for the residents (Scott 1980:26). At present, Lok Fu Estate has two blocks without Mutual Aid Committees: Block #21 and Block #9.\n\nBlock #21 is still in the process of being converted. Prior to this conversion, it had a fully-functioning MAC, but this committee had to be dissolved when the residents were moved out. The resettling of this block is scheduled to be completed in about June 1983; at that time, staff from the District Office\n\nPage 30\n\nPage 31",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209374,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 31,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "9 \n\nA similar \nplan to go back and establish a new committee. 13 situation exists at Block #9, which has already been converted. However, it is not yet fully occupied and a committee cannot be established until all units have been taken. When this is done, the District Office will begin its visits. A different situation exists in Block #13, for its MAC has been in suspension since 1978. The reasons why were not entirely clear, for the suspension was enacted before the tenure of the present liaison officer. Block #13 contains both the Housing Department office and the office of the Neighbourhood Police Unit, so it is possible that the residents did not see the need for an MAC. In January of 1983, the staff of the District Office planned to make new visits to assess the situation at this block. It seems that their efforts were successful, for on April 15, 1983, the residents held a special meeting and voted to set up a new Mutual Aid Committee. While dissolution is a serious matter, if a committee is dissolved, it can be re-established at a later date if the residents change their opinions.\n\nPrivate housing blocks, it might be added, have another alternative—the owners' corporations—and some MACs disband when one of these is established. The owners' corporations were established under the Multi-Storey Building (Owners' Incorporation) Ordinance, passed in 1970. Normally, the two kinds of organizations do not co-exist in one building, although there are some examples of change over long periods when both continue to function. Some officials (for example, many of the liaison officers I interviewed while conducting research in the Mong Kok District) considered this change desirable and viewed the process as one of no committee, then a Mutual Aid Committee, then an owners' corporation. Of course, no such alternative is available at Lok Fu, as owners' corporations cannot be established in public housing estates, or in some private housing estates with management systems governed by Deeds of Mutual Covenant.\n\nA Question of Data\n\nHow large are Mutual Aid Committees and what is their internal arrangement? While this question seems quite straightforward, gathering the information necessary to answer it is not always easy. Because of conflicting sources, it is difficult to assess",
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    {
        "id": 209376,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "page_number": 33,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "11\n\n1,000 to 1,500 and a final five contain over 1,500 occupants.14 How large are the Mutual Aid Committees of this relatively small estate? Is there such a thing as an \"average\" committee? The following figures are computed for active members only; honorary members are excluded here, but will be discussed later in this paper. In my sample, four of the committees have a membership of ten or less, officers and committee members combined. Another seven operate with eleven to twenty members, and four more have between twenty-one and thirty. The three largest committees in this sample have thirty-seven, thirty-nine, and forty-five members. In all these examples, actual committee membership may vary from election to election, depending on the number of floor representatives serving at any one time. Nevertheless, these committees are still rather small when compared to those in other estates, where the total membership is generally much higher. In Tze Wan Shan Estate, for example, the committees regularly contained fifty members, and in 1978, one committee had a total of fifty-nine active members (Scott 1980:41).\n\nFloor Representatives\n\nMutual Aid Committees are best understood as organizations formed in two stages: the first, and basic, level is made up of the floor representatives, who are the first members selected when a committee is established. Floor representatives (*), who in Lok Fu Estate MACs are synonymous with committee members (Δ), make up the group from which officers are elected and which provide the manpower for the sub-committees, if any. The Model Rules of 1982 states that, \"Floor representatives shall be elected biennially either at floor meetings convened before the Annual General Meeting, or at the Annual General Meeting\" (City and New Territories Administration 1982:2). Many committees do hold elections to choose their floor representatives, but in others, a number of floor representatives simply volunteer for the positions and are approved; for this reason, the floor representatives of some committees do not change every two years.\n\nHow many floor representatives are elected to a committee? Here the actual situation is somewhat at variance with the official",
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    {
        "id": 209377,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 34,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "12\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nregulations. The Model Rules of 1982 state clearly that \"The number of floor representatives for one floor shall depend on the total number of household units on the floor but shall not normally exceed three. Each floor of the same building shall have an equal number of floor representatives\" (City and New Territories Administration 1982:2). However, the majority of committees show considerable variation in the number of floor representatives elected. While most committees do not elect more than three floor representatives per floor (most elect two or three), the majority of committees operate with unequal representation by floor. For example, in one block one floor had selected seven floor representatives, while other floors in that block had selected only two. While this is an extreme example, half of the committees vary the number of their floor representatives, electing two or three per floor, with different floors electing different numbers. Adding up the figures, eight committees had elected twenty or more representatives, while the remaining had elected nineteen or less. The smallest committee was operating with a total of eight members, which meant that some floors had not elected representatives at all.\n\nMutual Aid Committee officeholders are chosen from the committee's group of elected floor representatives, the floor representatives doing the electing themselves. Aside from this responsibility, what other duties do the floor representatives perform? Much depends on the general functioning of the committee. If it is inactive (that is, meets infrequently, organizes no activities, rarely participates in the activities sponsored by the District Office), the floor representatives will have little or nothing to do. A number of chairmen, rather embarrassed, had to admit that this was so. As their name suggests, the major responsibility of the floor representatives is to keep in touch with the residents of their floor, keeping an eye open for problems, and collecting complaints and opinions to present in the MAC meeting. The floor representatives also help transmit information to the residents from the MAC, which, in its turn, is receiving it from the District Office and other government departments. For example, before the recent District Board elections, the floor representatives of one committee went to the residents of their floors to assist them in registering as electors. Others help by distributing leaflets or",
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        "page_number": 35,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "13\n\nofficial information. Floor representatives also participate in their MAC's subcommittees, if there are any, and so do much of the work of organizing and carrying out activities.\n\nOfficeholders\n\nHow many officeholders are there? The basic committee structure consists of three officers: chairman, secretary, and treasurer. Section VII of the 1982 Model Rules (Composition of Committee) explains that, \"The MAC shall consist of at least three key office-bearers namely a Chairman, a Secretary and a Treasurer, and such other office-bearers as may be elected\" (City and New Territories Administration 1982:2). The three officers (and, of course, any additional officers) are required to show their identity cards and register at the District Office along with the committee itself. The registration practice, which is now standardized for all City Districts, involves giving certain personal data for recording in the District Office. The information recorded is: name, address, telephone number, identity card number, sex, date of birth, age, educational background, occupation, nationality, and C.C.C. number.15 All of the officers of all committees must register. However, the District Office does not keep records on any other members of the committee, nor does it record the structure of the committee itself.\n\nIn addition to the three officers mentioned above, most committees add extra officeholding positions to assist in the running of the committee. While government regulations do not state clearly what positions these might be, all the Mutual Aid Committees in Lok Fu Estate have vice-chairmen. Most have only one, but three committees have two vice-chairmen, one has three, and one has four. Committees have vice-chairmen because they recognize the need for someone to assist the chairman, on whom falls much of the responsibility for the affairs of the committee. Sometimes, there is too much for one person to do. Three more committees have either vice-secretaries or vice-treasurers, and two committees have both a vice-secretary and a vice-treasurer. The chairman of one of these committees explained that these extra vice-officers were the secretary and the treasurer of the previous term and were kept on to advise and assist the newly-elected secretary and treasurer. This ensured",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209379,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 36,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "14\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nboth continuity and smooth operation, the desire for both being a common reason for electing vice-officers. One of the committees listed above as having two vice-chairmen, did so because one of these officers was soon to move to another estate and the second would be available to take over the position after he left.\n\nIn June of 1982, a decision was made by the District Offices to add auditors as appointed members of the Mutual Aid Committees. This was done on the advice of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which believed that, although the MACs and their financial transactions were small, it was nevertheless a good idea to prevent any possible mishandling of funds.16 Any person living in the block who is not already an officer can become the auditor, but the MAC can, with the agreement of the residents, ask residents of other blocks to serve as their auditor. At the end of March, 1983, seventeen of the Mutual Aid Committees of Lok Fu Estate had appointed auditors, and one of these had also added a vice-auditor.\n\nThe largest committee in Lok Fu Estate, that of Block #15, has eight officers: one chairman, three vice-chairmen, two secretaries, one treasurer, and one vice-treasurer. The next largest, that of Block #12, operates with six officers: one chairman, two vice-chairmen, one secretary, and two treasurers. Block #19, the third largest, has also elected six officers: one chairman, two vice-chairmen, two secretaries and one treasurer. In size, these committees resemble the large scale MACs in Tze Wan Shan Estate, committees which have as many as eight to ten additional officers (Scott 1980:37). For example, the fifty-five member committee mentioned previously had fourteen officers altogether: one chairman, eight vice-chairmen, one secretary, two vice-secretaries, and one treasurer (Scott 1980:41).\n\nWhat are the duties of these officers? Of course, the chairman is the key officer, as he is the official representative of the MAC, convening the meetings, and acting on behalf of the residents when meeting with officials and representatives from the government. The vice-chairman, according to the 1982 Model Rules, is \"deputising the Chairman as and when necessary\" (City and New Territories Administration 1981:3). However, the vice-chairmen, acting in hand with the chairmen, sometimes",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209380,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 37,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "15\n\nhave a great many other duties to do as well, and step in to work whenever necessary. The secretary, with the assistance of the vice-secretaries, if any, handles the correspondence, takes the minutes at meetings, and in general keeps the letters and correspondence received from outside, although in some committees this latter duty is performed by the chairman. Finally, the treasurer prepares the income and expenditure statements (in cooperation with the chairman and the auditor), issues the cheques (also bearing the signature of the chairman and/or secretary), checks the validity of payment vouchers, and supervises the collection of voluntary contributions and monthly fees (City and New Territories Administration 1982:4).\n\nThese distinctions look neat on paper and the division of labour seems clear, but the actual situation is a good deal less distinct. The lack of enthusiasm on the part of committee members often means that the officers of some committees carry out all the work themselves, and so take on additional duties beyond those formally listed for their offices. In addition, the distinctions between responsibilities often become blurred because officers must help each other perform their duties, especially if one is ill or away. This is especially true for the chairman, who in some committees becomes the only working office-holder. All the chairmen of Lok Fu Estate Mutual Aid Committees stressed the cooperation between the officers and the fact that they all could do each other's jobs when and if that became necessary.17\n\nHow long do officers serve? The Model Rules of August, 1982, stated clearly that, \"The tenure of an office-bearer shall be two years\" (City and New Territories Administration 1982:3). Before these rules were enacted, however, the officers of Mutual Aid Committees served terms of one year. The District Offices had many reasons for extending the term of office, but the most important was that the new officers needed more time to become acquainted with the block, its problems, and the duties of an officer. This was especially true if they were new to the block. In addition, the one-year term of office did not allow sufficient time for the officers to complete projects. The reason for this was that the last two months of a term were taken to prepare for the next election. Therefore, officers were serving, in effect, ten-month terms and it was felt that a longer term of office was",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209382,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 39,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "17\n\nofficers would have to go through the same process as the previous year's officers. With a two-year term, the chairmen and the officers will be placed in a better working situation as they have a longer time to gain experience and get prepared for work.\n\nAnother felt that, \"The new two-year term gives a chance for the MAC officers to build up a good relationship with the residents. It also gives them a chance for the MAC to build up good connections with the officers of other MACs.\"\n\nMany officers felt that the one-year term was simply not long enough to accomplish anything. \"In my committee, the election business takes two to three months. After all that, there are a few months left of an officer's term. How can he do his work?” As explained in a previous section, the procedure for electing a slate of MAC officers requires some months to complete. It is not surprising that many officers were pleased not to hold \"complicated and troublesome\" elections (as one described them) every year. \"It [the two-year term] saves time in arranging for the elections annually and moreover, it simplifies the election procedures. Less time and energy is needed, compared with the one-year programme, and I think that the change was made for these reasons.\"\n\nSubcommittees\n\nDuring earlier research into the Mutual Aid Committees, I quickly realized that much more elaborate committees were found in the public housing estates (as opposed to those found in private housing blocks) where the larger population necessitated more complicated organization. Numerous subcommittees were added according to the desires of the residents and the particular needs of the building. The committees I visited at that time most often contained welfare, recreation, sanitation, women's section, and security subcommittees, while a few had added investigation, public relations, and general business subcommittees.\n\nWhat are the duties of these subcommittees? As originally described for 1977:\n\nThe recreation subcommittee takes charge of the social activities provided by the M.A.C. It plans outings, making",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209383,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 40,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "18\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nall the preparations from tickets to transportation. It recruits members for the sports teams (if there are any), provides uniforms and equipment (paid for out of the general fund), and arranges for matches with other teams. The general sports equipment used by all the residents (ping pong tables and rackets, basketballs, soccer balls) is also cared for by this subcommittee. Sanitation subcommittee members also keep an eye on the cleanliness of the building, speaking to people who throw trash, reminding them of the health laws and regulations. They also check up on water supplies and trash pickup, reporting special problems to the committee at large. The welfare and women's section subcommittees are similar in orientation, in that both are concerned with the general welfare of the residents and make it a point to see that needy families get help. Members collect donations for financially troubled families, those where there is a serious illness, or where there has been a death. If the problem requires long-term assistance, they see that the Department of Social Welfare is informed and the case processed. Because of these activities, both subcommittees are very much in tune with life in the building and are on call for whatever and whenever assistance is required (Scott 1980:37-38).\n\nIn Lok Fu Estate, there are six Mutual Aid Committees that are divided into subcommittees. However, the subcommittees found here are not exactly equivalent to those established in the MACs of, for example, Tze Wan Shan or Choi Hung Estates, nor are they found in the same form in all these five committees. This is because some committees list the subcommittees in full while others simply list them by the names of the one or more members who head them. For example, the largest committee, that of Block #15, lists its subcommittees in the following way: one managing director, one managing vice-director, one welfare director, two welfare vice-directors, one public relations director, two public relations vice-directors, one women's section director, and five women's section vice-directors. The remaining nineteen committee members (not counting the officers) are divided among these subcommittees. Block #12, the second largest committee, contains: one public relations director, one management director, four recreation directors, four young people's affairs directors, one",
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    {
        "id": 209384,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 41,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "19\n\nwelfare director, one women's section director, and adds two new subcommittees, one sanitation director and one football instructor. The same kinds of subcommittees are found in an additional three committees (those for Blocks #16, #19, and #23) but Block #19 has two additional categories of junior police call (three members) and security (nine members), and Block #16 adds that of hygiene. Block #17's MAC has recently formed subcommittees for recreation, general affairs, women's section, and public relations.\n\nWhat do these committees do? Are there any differences with the subcommittee descriptions given earlier? Take, for example, the recreation subcommittee. The MACs of Lok Fu Estate may participate in two kinds of recreational activities, those organized through the District Office and planned for the estate as a whole and those organized by the block itself. The latter are much less common, as many committees do not have enough enthusiastic members to do the organizing nor do they have sufficient funds to pay for the expenses. Picnics are popular in the summer and fall, however, and the residents of many blocks are enthusiastic about outings to local temples to eat vegetarian food. One committee provides summer activities for its resident young people (such as camping trips, chess playing sessions, and table tennis) and a few committees have obtained basketballs and footballs for residents to use. The women's section subcommittee of one block's MAC provides a special service by seeing to the needs of old women living in the block. For example, it helps to pay the electricity bills for those in need and gives general assistance to these older women. The functions of the other subcommittees are generally the same as described.\n\nOne special subcommittee, that for security, is characteristic only of public housing estate Mutual Aid Committees. There, multiple entrances and exits make security a problem. It is true enough that private housing units also have security problems, often serious ones, but in my experience they rarely have patrol teams, relying instead on gates, an occasional watchman or two, or a company-hired professional security team. In the public housing estates, the security subcommittee is usually the one responsible for the neighbourhood security patrols, the regularly-rotating groups of committee members and residents who patrol",
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    {
        "id": 209386,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 43,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "21\n\ntime and the crime rate was high. The government suggested setting up a voluntary organization in each block of an estate to patrol for the public's safety. Our block has never practised patrolling before. The chief reason was that the MAC's power was very restricted and its financial resources were very limited. So, it could not afford to run a patrol.\" Another chairman remarked, “After the MAC was set up in 1973, there was a night patrol group made up of residents who volunteered. However, people lost their enthusiasm and it ended.\" Still another chairman, a veteran of many years' service to the MAC, explained:\n\nBut\n\nIn the past, we hired a watchman at $900 a month salary. Three dollars were collected from each room for this. Some people moved out, and so the MAC had to ask for more money from each household to make up the loss. The residents were not willing to give the money. Therefore, our committee doesn't have a watchman now. Probably we will not have one until the residents have a real need for one, and then they will ask the MAC to call him back. But, I suppose that it is better to get a resident from the block to be the watchman because he will know the residents and the situation.\n\nOne\n\nThere are only a few watchman security systems left. A chairman, whose committee has hired a watchman to guard the male and female toilets at night, said that at first, only sixty to seventy percent of the residents were willing to contribute money to pay for the service, but that later (presumably after they had seen how well it worked), ninety percent contributed money. This watchman works from ten in the evening to seven o'clock the next morning. Each household on the lower floors pays $5.00 a month for this service, while the new rooms on the roof each pay $9.00 a month. Another committee employs a guard to patrol the block all night. For this, he is paid $1,000 per month, with each household contributing $3.00 towards this total.\n\nHonorary Members\n\nA final feature characteristic of many Mutual Aid Committees in public housing estates is the position of honorary member.19 Honorary members are those individuals who have aided the",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209387,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 44,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "22\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\ncommittee in some fashion or who occupy positions of respect in the community.20 For these accomplishments, they are honored by being given positions in the MAC such as honorary chairman (**), president (#), honorary president (**E), consultant (H), honorary consultant (2JN), and medical consultant (H). Mutual Aid Committees are not restricted in the number of honorary members they may select, nor are they restricted to their own block or committee when choosing them. Honorary members can also be chosen from residents of other blocks, or from organizations and committees outside the estate. The honorary members may in fact not be individuals at all, but companies or businesses that have supported the MAC. For example, three Lok Fu Mutual Aid Committees have local businesses as honorary members (in the positions of consultant or president). In all, six committees in Lok Fu Estate have invited honorary members.21\n\nWhile honorary members need not perform any of the day-to-day duties of the committee, they may be called upon to give advice and special assistance, usually in the form of funds. In return, they are given respect and the committee itself gains in prestige by having notable members. Conferring honorary status on an individual is not all calculation, however; many elderly residents, former officers or members, or long-term residents may be so honored. In Lok Fu Estate, the most common position is that of president, followed by consultant. Six Mutual Aid Committees have invited individuals to serve as president (either honorary or ordinary) and four committees have installed consultants (either honorary or ordinary).22 As the position of president is the most common, the following discussion will be directed to it.\n\nThe president is not elected but is recommended by the MAC members. For instance, Uncle Tse and Mr. Wong, who are the presidents, are very enthusiastic to join the MAC. As they have been living in Lok Fu Estate for many years, they are known by everyone in the block. However, because they are too old to bear the many duties of the MAC, hence they are given the honorary title of president which shares the duties of an MAC chairman. In most instances, they",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209389,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 46,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "24\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\ntheir capacity as president, to work for the committee's benefit outside the block. Other than these, there are no special duties clearly set out as the responsibility of the president. A similar situation exists for the other honorary members, such as the consultant and honorary consultant. \"The ten members of the consultant subcommittee are those who have been members of the MAC for a long time, but who have no special duties. To give them an honored term for committee members to use, they are referred to as consultants, and give general advice.\" In this way, the chairman of one of the most active committees described the position of consultant.\n\nSome committees have a great many honorary members. For example, one committee I visited in Tze Wan Shan Estate in 1977 was extremely active in recruiting honorary members, as it had thirty-six: thirteen honorary presidents, five advisors, seven consultants, and eleven special presidents (Scott 1980:41). A few of the larger committees in Lok Fu Estate have appointed honorary members in numbers large enough to equal or surpass this total. Block #15, for example, has twenty-four consultants (of which seven are businesses), fifteen honorary presidents, five presidents, and two medical advisors, giving a total of forty-six. Thirty-nine honorary members serve on the MAC of Block #16: eight presidents, and thirty-one honorary presidents (one a restaurant). A third committee, that of Block #19, has invited thirty honorary members, including: one management consultant, eighteen honorary consultants (all businesses), four honorary medical consultants (among which is a herbal medicine shop), and seven honorary presidents (of which two are businesses). Three other MACs have twenty-five, nineteen, and eight honorary members.\n\nStructure and Beyond\n\nThe preceding discussion examines the basic structure of the Mutual Aid Committees. Although this structure is the same for all committees, it is clear that each MAC has the freedom to alter and expand on the design. While the study of MAC design is interesting and valuable for its own sake, it becomes especially important when it is realized that a clear idea of both the basic structure of a Mutual Aid Committee and the variations on this",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209390,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 47,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "25\n\nbasic structure is necessary if the observer wishes to investigate other issues relating to the committees, For example, there are\n\nnumerous questions related to the functioning of the MACs. According to the Wong Tai Sin District Report of 1982, “The functioning of the MACs in the [Lok Fu] Area is satisfactory and there are some active MACs that cooperate with the CDO and the Area Committee in organizing and participating in the various activities and campaigns\" (1982:281). However, satisfactory functioning is difficult to assess precisely, as its meaning depends on the point of view and the criteria employed. Government officials, scholars, residents, and committee members all form their own evaluations of committee functioning, based on administrative criteria, research interest, or personal experience.\n\nWhile some aspects of the functioning of the MACs of Lok Fu Estate have been described here in connection with the structure, the purpose of this paper was not to examine exhaustively (nor to evaluate) all aspects of the functioning of the Mutual Aid Committees. Yet, the issue of committee functioning is related to the material presented here, for all the diverse opinions lead back to the organization of the committees. Committees that function most successfully are those that have taken the basic structure of the MAC and carefully adapted it to the conditions of the block. This adaptability gives committees the potential of solving immediate problems and of accommodating the particular needs of the residents, and doing this with the maximum of flexibility and the minimum of trouble. It is possible that committee size, for example, may be as much related to active functioning as it is to the size of the block. Therefore, the starting point of any future evaluation of committee functioning must be the particular design of each committee, as this reflects the situation of the block and clarifies how the Mutual Aid Committees satisfy the diverse expectations laid upon them. Certainly, as each block has formed its own committee to complement its own circumstances, the Mutual Aid Committees of Lok Fu Estate exemplify this process. Much that can be applied to other questions can be learned by observing the structure, and the variations, of these committees.",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209391,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 48,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "26\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nNOTES\n\nIt might be mentioned that the adult population of Hong Kong was, at the time of Mutual Aid Committee formation, already well acquainted with the idea and work of urban organizations. While the Mutual Aid Committees had (and still retain) their own unique design, their structure (and their functions) were not unfamiliar and they were not viewed as mysterious committees having no resemblances to other, more traditional, Chinese organizations.\n\n* The other five subdivisions are: Kam Kwok Mansion, Luen Hop Building, Mei Tung Estate, Pui Man Tsuen Cottage Area, and Pok Oi Village (Wong Tai Sin District Report 1982:271).\n\n* The exact total, provided by the office of the Housing Manager of Lok Fu Estate, was 21,221 at the end of February, 1983.\n\n• At the end of 1982, the exact figure was 523,927.\n\n* The Mark I blocks include Blocks #1-5, #9, #10, and #12, and the Mark II group is made up of Blocks #13-20 and Blocks #22 and #23. The remaining blocks (#6-8, #11, and #21), already rebuilt, are now referred to as Converted Buildings (Wong Tai Sin District Report 1982:272).\n\n• This information was provided by the office of the Housing Manager of Lok Fu Estate.\n\n* At the end of February, 1983, there were 26 Mutual Aid Committees in the Lok Fu Area and 286 Mutual Aid Committees for the entire Wong Tai Sin District.\n\n* The selection of male members is because all but one of the chairmen of the Lok Fu Estate Mutual Aid Committees interviewed were male. In addition, the opinions of female members towards participation were investigated during the research period of 1976-1978.\n\n* Block #23 of Tung Tau Estate is still divided into floors for the purpose of MAC formation. In early 1983, it had five MACs, one for each three floors.\n\n10 In 1982 the old titles of City District Commissioner and City District Officer were changed to District Officer and Assistant District Officer respectively. At the same time the old Home Affairs Department and New Territories Administration were amalgamated into a new department known as the City and New Territories Administration.\n\n11 The official certificates of registration are framed and prominently displayed in the committee's office, or if the committee lacks an office, are kept by an officer, most often the chairman.\n\n19\n\nHowever, given the apathy of many residents and the low attendance at many MAC meetings, one might wonder if any committee has been dissolved by popular action, the second alternative.\n\n10 This is the schedule as described by the Wong Tai Sin District Office, Tung Tau Sub-office. The office of the Housing Manager, Lok Fu Estate, explained that the conversion has already been completed and that 114 families (the figure as of March, 1983) had already moved in.\n\n\"These figures have been provided by the office of the Housing Manager of Lok Fu Estate, and are accurate as to the end of March, 1983.\n\n16 The C.C.C. number is a code number found on the Hong Kong Identification Card and is written under the Chinese characters of the individual's name.\n\n10 According to the Tung Tau Sub-office of the Wong Tai Sin District Office, there are no instances of the mishandling of MAC funds known in",
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        "id": 209392,
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        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 49,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "27\n\nLok Fu Estate. I did, however, hear of such misuse during my earlier research in other districts.\n\n17 It might be mentioned here that a number of MAC office-holders, most often the chairmen, are asked to participate on other community organizations, thereby representing the MAC and forming a link between it and the organization. The nature of such links varies from committee to committee, but membership on the Area Committee is common. For example, nearly all the chairmen of Lok Fu Estate MACS participate in the Lok Fu Area Committee. Participation on such outside organizations increases the duties of the office-holders, as they must carry back to the MAC information and announcements for dissemination.\n\nIn a few committees, these items were purchased by the officers (usually the chairman) and donated to the committee. Other committees have applied to the Sir David Trench Fund. This fund, made up of a sports grant from the Council for Recreation and Sports, can be used to pay for sports equipment such as table tennis tables. Applications are invited once a year, usually in September or October. At that time, the District Office sends the temporary community organizer to each MAC, to ask the chairman if any equipment is desired. If so, the forms are completed and forwarded to the City and New Territories Administration by the District Office. The forms are tabulated and the committees are then informed of what they can buy. The committees then buy the approved items and are reimbursed.\n\nThe Mutual Aid Committees are not unusual in their practice of inviting honorary members. Honorary members seem to be a part of many Chinese organizations, both traditional and modern.\n\nThe position of honorary member is not based on sex; both men and women can be asked to be honorary members, although male honorary members are more numerous, reflecting the generally greater participation of men in the Mutual Aid Committees.\n\nDespite the popularity of inviting honorary members, the District Office does not encourage this practice, as it views the officers and the floor representatives as the functioning members. In addition, there is potential for committee conflicts if members cannot agree on who to invite as honorary members, and this should be avoided.\n\nThe terms \"honorary\" or \"ordinary\" refer to the distinctions made by some committees. Actually, there is very little substantive difference between president and honorary president or consultant and honorary consultant. In a few committees, it seems that the titles of honorary president or honorary consultant confer a bit more prestige, but this is by no means certain.\n\nEach registered Mutual Aid Committee may request reimbursement of its essential expenditure up to a total of $2,000 per year, computed quarterly (that is, $500 every three months). This money is provided for the MACs from a special fund from the City and New Territories Administration and may be used to pay the costs of the initial setting up of the MAC office; to purchase supplies such as blackboards and notice boards, first-aid kits, and loud speakers; and to pay the monthly bills (such as rates or the cost of electricity) for the office. Sports equipment cannot be bought with this money. Newly-established committees that are setting up their offices can ask for a one quarter's advance, so that they can use up to $1,000 in the first quarter if necessary. However, if the $2,000 yearly allotment is insufficient for the committee's needs, or if special expenditure is planned, the additional funds must be collected from the residents, or donated by the honorary members.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 209395,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1982",
        "page_number": 52,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "30\n\nIkels, Charlotte\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\n1983 Personal Communication.\n\nJones, John F., K. F. Ho, B. Lo Chau, M. C. Lam, and B. H. Mok\n\n1978 Neighborhood Associations in a New Town: The Mutual Aid Committees in Shatin. Social Research Centre, Occasional Paper No. 76. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong.\n\nScott, Janet Lee\n\n1980 \"Action and Meaning: Women's Participation in the Mutual Aid Committees, Kowloon.\" Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, 1980.\n\nSouth China Morning Post (Hong Kong)\n\n\"A Horrifying Crime Wave.\" 6 January 1977, p. 2.\n\n\"Little Mutual Aid in Kim Shin Lane.\" 7 January 1977, p. 1. \"Mutual Aid Committees to Disband.\" 8 May 1977, p. 10. \"Grandpa Ready to Fight.\" 7 August 1977, p. 6.\n\n\"Ding Blasts CDO 'Sham'.\" 17 April 1978, p. 1.\n\n\"MAC Officials Frustrated, Worker Claims.\" 22 April 1978, p. 6. \"Why Residents Are Unhappy about MACs.\" 23 April 1978, p. 7.\n\nWong, Aline K.\n\n1972 The Kaifong Associations and the Society of Hong Kong. Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs, Vol. 43. Taipei: Orient Cultural Service.\n\nYu, Jeffrey, Pui-man\n\n1976 \"The Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign. An Evaluation.\" M.A. thesis, Stanford University, 1967.\n\nI",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p",
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    },
    {
        "id": 215698,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-2001",
        "page_number": 475,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "428\n\ncould be slipped past the powers-that-be. Slaughterhouse butchers, villagers in New Territories villages, hawkers in urban street-markets, taxi-drivers, factory-hands forced to commute on wildly inadequate bus-services, all were helped by schemes introduced by Denis. When I first joined the Hong Kong Administrative Service in 1972, I heard a good deal about the problems these \"Bray-waves\" caused to the bureaucrats who were teaching us the ropes, and who wanted nothing so much as a comfortable life, bolstered by rule-books which never needed to be questioned, but, having looked at what Denis did, and how he did it, I have no doubt at all that what he did was politically essential, well thought out, practicable, and necessary. Letters \"B,\" the Small House Policy, the Hawker Control Force, the Mutual Aid Committees, and so much more, were the right solutions to real problems, and genuinely did alleviate real unfairness. All too often, after Denis moved on, his successors would hamstring his reforms by refusing to implement them in the spirit in which they were introduced, unfortunately, but I do not believe anyone reading in an unbiased way Denis' account of the introduction of Letters \"B\" (p. 76), or the Small House Policy (p. 163-166) could fail to see the need for the new policy, nor the skill and intelligence with which Denis undertook the work.\n\nReading this book, I was amazed to see just how many of the policies I attempted to implement had been introduced by Denis. In the Urban Services Department, the Home Affairs Department, and as District Officer in the New Territories, almost all the policies that governed my life had been introduced by him.\n\nThe later part of the book, on the years when Denis was \"near the top,\" and at the top, will prove of interest to political historians in later years, giving glimpses of an insider's view of the negotiations on the future of Hong Kong. I personally found this part of the book duller and of less interest. Loyalty to the system makes the descriptions thin and the reticence is widespread. Nonetheless, this part of the book is without doubt of considerable historical value.\n\nAt the end of the book is a short “Epilogue” in which Denis gives his views on the political development of Hong Kong after his retirement. His utter rejection of the Patten position is made very clear, and his espousal of a slow-but-steady development towards universal suffrage for the Legislative Council and for the election of the Chief",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 215836,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-2002",
        "page_number": 135,
        "title": "RAS-2002",
        "content_text": "68\n\nAll associations were required to be registered under the Societies Ordinance of the Laws of Hong Kong or as limited companies under the Companies Ordinance. Partly because of this, another duty undertaken by officials was to attend or officiate at the inaugurations of new terms of office-bearers, including administration of an oath of office to the new incumbents. This was particularly the case with the rural committees and the kaifong welfare associations, which (as major channels of communication with the local public) had close links with, and came under the supervision of, the District Commissioner, New Territories, and the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and their senior staff in the districts.1\n\nDuring my fifteen years in the New Territories Administration (NTA), and five more in the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs (SCA, which later became the Home Affairs Department or HAD) both of them to be described as \"political\" departments whose staff had direct dealings with the public, we were also in contact with a miscellany of other community bodies, including the many clansmen's (same name) and district (same place) associations, in both town and country. From the early 1970s, these were joined by the government-sponsored and assisted Mutual Aid Committees, of which large numbers were formed across the whole territory.\n\nThose officials with district responsibilities (including police), were invited to all major local functions as a matter of course, and the officiating officers were either the District Officers, or their superiors in headquarters or in concerned departments. I attended a great many functions during my service in various departments, and thus became familiar with their way of conducting them. This hardly varied, the difference being mainly a matter of degree and extent, depending on the importance of the bodies concerned and the nature and significance of their events.\n\nThe Nature of the proceedings\n\nA marked formality characterized all their occasions. The ceremonies followed set procedures, and each stage was introduced by a\n\n1 For anyone wishing to learn more, the index to Friends and Teachers indicates where information concerning these and other Chinese associations, and their interaction with government departments during my service (1956-87) can be found.\n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 215845,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-2002",
        "page_number": 144,
        "title": "RAS-2002",
        "content_text": "77\n\nprovided an account of one failed scholar in the Appendix.\n\nTeachers as helpers\n\nLike the scholars, local schoolmasters had long performed a vital role in the literary segment of the popular culture, including assistance with mounting local events and ceremonies. Even after the depopulation or abandonment of many old settlements, and the amalgamation or replacement of schools in places altered by development, had changed their situation, their successors in today's modern and much larger schools in the new town areas of the New Territories are still valued by the rural committees and a wide range of social and cultural associations. Some are calligraphers and scholars in their own right, and assist the associations' leaders and their secretaries in various ways. I used to meet many principals in the course of attending district functions and association dinners, and can bear witness to their major contributions to community life. In the old Southern District (present day Sai Kung and Islands), they were well to the fore, particularly on Cheung Chau, a large and always vibrant though outlying community, with a number of regional associations, some of which provided schools.\n\nWho paid?\n\nThe secretaries of kaifong and other urban associations were usually hired and paid for by their chairmen. For this reason, salaries and running expenses were generally kept low, and when a wealthy man was prepared to underwrite the cost, there were in general few changes of chairmen. In the New Territories, a small monthly subvention was paid to rural committees from 1961 on, to assist with running expenses, reflecting official recognition of the work they were performing in the public interest, assisting government and people alike in a period of ever-accelerating development and the disruptions it created for ordinary folk. Later on, similar small monthly sums were made available to federations of societies and to mutual aid committees across Hong Kong. (See Friends and Teachers, p.308, and my Tsuen Wan, Growth of a New Town and its People (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1993), Pp.212, 231 and 243 for these several payments).\n\nThe cost of the ceremonies and anything that went with them, and in the case of religious festivals of hiring the priests, the opera troupes.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278",
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    }
]