ENG-1984 — Page 68

48 THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN HONG KONG

Remuneration for Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council

41. Several suggestions were made that unofficial members of the Legislative Council should be provided with adequate remuneration so as to enable them to devote the proper amount of time and attention to their duties as councillors. This would also help to ensure that prospective candidates for the Legislative Council are not prevented from standing for election for financial reasons.

42. Although arrangements already exist for certain expenses to be reimbursed to unofficial members, it is now proposed that a standard rate of remuneration as well as payment of expenses should be provided. The level is now under consideration, with a view to introducing the scheme when the first elected unofficial members join the Legislative Council.

LEGISLATION

43. In order to implement the changes in the composition and method of selection of the Legislative and Executive Councils it will be necessary to make some amendments to the two main constitutional instruments, the Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions. The intention is to effect these in stages, as and when necessary.

44. It will also be necessary to enact legislation in Hong Kong to cover the holding of elections to the Legislative Council by the electoral college and the functional constituen- cies and who may vote in them. This legislation is now being drafted and will be published for debate in the Legislative Council early next year. As there is a degree of public familiarity with the legislation governing elections to the Urban Council and district boards, and in order to minimise possible confusion and misunderstanding, the electoral legislation will be framed on broadly similar lines.

45. In order to give sufficient time for preparation of this complex legislation and for all the necessary administrative arrangements for the holding of the elections to be made, it is now intended to hold the first electoral college and functional constituency elections to the Legislative Council in September 1985, instead of July as originally proposed in the Green Paper.

SUMMARY

46. A summary of the government's intentions and legislative proposals relating to the further development of representative government at the central level in Hong Kong is as follows:

Main Aims

(a) The main aims are to develop progressively a system of representative government at the central level which is more directly accountable to the people of Hong Kong and is firmly rooted in Hong Kong; to base this system on our existing institutions, as far as possible, and to preserve their best features; and to allow for further development later on. The objectives described in this White Paper are intended to cover only the next stage in the development of representative government in Hong Kong. Further developments will be considered later in the light of experience.