ENG-1959 — Page 404

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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offices and quarters, and administers the Government monopoly of sand. The Printing Department, under the Government Printer, is responsible for all Government publications, most of which are produced entirely in the department itself. The Quartering Authority deals with accommodation for civil servants and Government departments.

New Territories Administration. The New Territories are divided into four administrative districts: Yuen Long in the north-west; Tai Po in the north-east; Tsuen Wan, which includes the industrial town of Tsuen Wan, the islands of Tsing Yi and Ma Wan and part of north-east Lantau; and the Southern district which includes the rest of Lantau, all the remaining islands and the southern part of the Sai Kung peninsula. Each of the four districts is administered by a District Officer. The District Office for Yuen Long is at Ping Shan and that for Tai Po is at Tai Po Market. The Tsuen Wan District Office, which formerly shared accom- modation with the Southern District Office in Kowloon, was set up in temporary accommodation in Tsuen Wan in September 1959. The District Commissioner, with an office in Kowloon and head- quarters staff under a Deputy District Commissioner, co-ordinates the overall administration of the New Territories. There is also a Resident Magistrate, who is a legal officer, for the New Territories.

The District Officer is concerned with every aspect of govern- ment activity in his district. His responsibilities include the holding of land and small debt courts, and arbitration in all kinds of village and personal disputes, including family and matrimonial cases. He controls the utilization and sale of Crown land; he registers documents and deeds relating to private land; and all building plans require to be passed by him. He assesses and collects stamp duty, and issues licences for various types of licensed premises. He has an allocation of funds from the New Territories local public works vote, which pays for materials to assist villagers to improve irrigation and water supplies, to build paths and small bridges and to carry out a variety of other minor works to improve the amenities of the villages.

District Officers have the assistance of Rural Committees, elected by and from village representatives, and exercising various advisory functions. These Committees have already proved their usefulness as mouth-pieces of public opinion, in the arbitration of