ENG-1964 — Page 314

272

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

Director of Medical and Health Services as vice-chairman and the others include the Director of Public Works, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and the Director of Social Welfare, with the Com- missioner for Resettlement sitting as the additional member. The term of office of the ordinary members is four years. The Council meets monthly to transact formal business, but most of its business is dealt with by 17 select committees, which meet at frequent intervals; with only one exception these committees are chaired by unofficial members, and without exception the unofficial members are in the Majority.

The membership of the Urban Council is given at Appendix XLI. The responsibilities of the Urban Council, that are carried out through the Urban Services Department, cover the fields of envi- ronmental hygiene, sanitation and public amenities in the urban areas. The Council is also the competent authority for the man- agement of resettlement areas and estates.

A notable feature of the administration is the prominent part played by unofficial advice tendered through committees and boards appointed to advise the Governor or Heads of Departments. There are more than sixty such committees covering a broad field of public administration from education to aviation and legal aid to vegetable marketing. Membership of these committees varies according to requirement but common features of a great many of them is their largely unofficial composition and their wide spread of experience and qualifications. All the principal fields of public administration are so covered, including for example medical serv- ices, social welfare, education, public transport, trade and industry, labour and port administration. These boards and committees perform an invaluable function in enabling a considerable number of unofficials to play an active part in the formulation of policy, and in establishing and maintaining contact between government departments and the public. In recent years a new development has been the formation of advisory committees under unofficial chairmen, and with both official and unofficial membership, to advise Government on matters of considerable public controversy. Examples of these are the Advisory Committee on Public Transport and the recently appointed Advisory Committee on Telephone Services.