ENG-1980 — Page 324

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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member may be re-appointed or re-elected for a further term. The Chairman is elected by the council and can be an appointed member, an elected member, or any person who is not a member but has agreed to accept election to the office.

The Urban Council's responsibilities are restricted to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon, which have a combined population of nearly four million. The council's main duties are: public sanitation and cleansing; the licensing and hygienic control of all food premises, offensive trades and bathhouses; the management and control of civic centres, museums, football stadia, markets, abattoirs, hawkers, cemeteries, crematoria and funeral parlours. Other responsibilities include managing public libraries and places of public recreation such as bathing beaches, swimming pools, tennis and squash courts, games halls, sports grounds, playgrounds and parks; the provision and promotion of cultural services and outdoor entertainment; the licensing of places of public entertainment; and liquor licensing. In all these fields, the council's policies and decisions are carried out by the Urban Services Department, the director of which is the principal executive officer of the council under the Urban Council Ordinance.

The council's main revenue is derived from its share (34.8 per cent) of the yield from rates in the urban area. Fees and charges provide other sources of income. In the 1980-1 financial year, the council worked to an overall budget of $771 million.

District Administration

Wide-ranging changes in district administration were put forward in a Green Paper entitled A Pattern of District Administration in Hong Kong, which was published by the government on June 6, 1980. Covering both the urban areas and New Territories, its proposals were aimed principally at promoting a greater degree of co-ordination and responsiveness by the administration at district level, and increasing the involvement of residents in each district.

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The paper proposed that these aims should be achieved, in the New Territories, by the introduction of elections

- on a constituency basis to produce an elected element in the existing District Advisory Boards (which will be re-named District Boards). In the urban area, the District Management Committee system, which has been set up on an experi- mental basis in the Kwun Tong district, would be extended to other districts. District Boards, including unofficial membership, would also be established in the urban area and seats would be reserved for Urban Councillors to participate in their work.

Turning to the Urban Council, the Green Paper proposed that each councillor should be elected by a constituency; for this purpose, the urban area would be divided into eight districts, one of which would have one elected member and the rest, two returning a total of 15 elected Councillors. The number of appointed councillors would also be increased to 15. The Green Paper further proposed that the electoral franchise for the New Territories District Boards and the Urban Council elections should include all adults over the age

of 21 years, with at least three years residence in Hong Kong.

The Green Paper has provoked considerable interest among the people of Hong Kong. Its main proposals have been generally understood and constructive suggestions have been received from a wide cross-section of the community.

Advisory Committees

The network of government advisory boards and committees plays an essential role in the efficient administration of Hong Kong, and there are now more than 360 in existence. A distinctive feature of the system of government in the territory, the purpose of these bodies