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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

review at a higher level. Another method is a letter to the Governor or the Colonial Secretary, which will also ensure that the matter is reconsidered. Complaints and representations are also dealt with by the office run by unofficial members of the Executive Council and Legislative Council-commonly referred to as the UMELCO office. City district officers and district officers in the New Territories also receive and investigate complaints. The absence of any statutory powers of investigation is offset by a lack of restriction on the type of complaint which UMELCO and the district and city district officers can receive and investigate. Both systems deal effectively with many grievances.

In addition, members of the Urban Council operate a ward system through which they receive complaints from members of the public and bring them to the attention of the appropriate government department or raise them formally in the Urban Council.

Civil Service

The civil service provides the staff for all government departments, sub-depart- ments and other units of the administration. As at April 1, 1975 the total number of posts in the civil service (or its establishment as it is generally called) was 113,842. The strength in April 1975 was 104,291 officers, of whom 101,731 were local officers and 2,560 were overseas officers.

This indicates that about one person in every 40 in Hong Kong is employed by the government. There is a large proportion of labouring staff, and 39,678 of the total establishment of the civil service are labourers, semi-skilled labourers or artisans of one kind or another. The Hong Kong civil service is unusual in that it does some jobs which in other territories and administrations are done by people who do not belong to the civil service. For example, in other territories staff for hospitals, public works and utilities, urban cleansing and public health, and the police, are not always servants of the central government. In Hong Kong, the establishments of the Medical and Health Department (14,121), the Public Works Department (15,810), the Urban Services Department (19,071) and the Royal Hong Kong Police Force (19,185) account for a total of 68,187 posts, or about 60 per cent, of the total establishment of the service.

The service has grown from 17,500 in 1949 to about 60,000 in 1965 and now to more than 104,000. This reflects not only the continuing expansion of existing services, in line with the continuing expansion of the population, but also the development of new and more diverse services to meet the changing needs of the population.

The cost of the civil service is reflected in the expenditure on personal emoluments. For the financial year 1975-6, the estimated expenditure on personal emoluments, excluding pensions, is about $1,740 million. This represents about 38 per cent of the estimated recurrent expenditure included in the Budget.

The establishment of each post in the civil service requires the approval of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council, assisted by the advice of its establish- ment sub-committee. The Finance Committee examines all requests for additional