ENG-1960 — Page 385

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and the Director of Social Welfare; and sixteen ordinary members, of whom eight are elected and eight appointed by the Governor. The Commissioner for Resettle- ment sits as a temporary additional ex officio member. The term of office of ordinary members is four years. The Council meets monthly to transact formal business, but most of its business is dealt with by eighteen select committees, which meet at frequent intervals.

The Council carries out its responsibilities through the Urban Services and Resettlement Departments. The Urban Services Department, whose work is also described in Chapters 9 and 21, operates the basic sanitary services in both the urban areas and the New Territories behind Kowloon, with a variety of other duties in the field of public health, such as the supervision of food premises and hawkers, the operation of the city's slaughter- houses, and pest control measures. In addition, the department controls and staffs the parks, playgrounds and bathing beaches. The management of the multi-storey car parks in the centre of the city is also a responsibility of the Council, as will be the new City Hall now being built.

The Resettlement Department is responsible for the clearance and resettlement of squatters, the administration of the resettle- ment estates and areas, and the prevention of new squatting either on vacant land or on the rooftops of buildings. The com- position of the Housing Authority and the work of the Housing Division of the Urban Services Department which is responsible, under the immediate charge of a Commissioner, for routine administration and execution of the Authority's decisions, are described in Chapter 10.

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The Commissioner of Police, who is concurrently the Immigra- tion Officer, is responsible for the internal security of the Colony. The Police Force and the Prisons Department, also under a Commissioner, are described in Chapter 13. The Medical and Health Department is outlined in Chapter 9; the Education Department in Chapter 8; and the Labour Department, under a Commissioner who is concurrently Commissioner of Mines, in Chapter 3.

Reference to the Registrar General's Department is made in Chapter 13, and to the Marine, Railway and Civil Aviation