FCO_49_622_PLANNING_PAPER_ON_HONG_KONG_1976 — Page 111

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There are, however, powerful objections to these suggestions: (a) is likely to create the same difficulties with Peking as any move towards more widespread elective processes; (b) does not take

account of the generally unrepresentative character of those elected to the Urban Council; and (c) will lead to undesirable

fragmentation of power within so small a community.

15. In these circumstances, the machinery of Government is developing on unique lines. The present Governor's intention is

to produce a more local and less alien government, encouraging and organising public participation at all levels designed to create cohesion and a sense of local identity based upon civic pride. He has increased the number of Advisory Boards which provide an opportunity for those outside government to make their views known on a wide variety of topics, and has sought to widen representation

on them. He also initiated the system of Mutual Aid Committees (a form of residents' associations at their strongest in urban resettlement estates), initially designed to combat crime but subsequently adapted as a link between the population at large

and Government over a wide field of issues. Plans for further

institutional development follow four principal lines of approach:

(a) increasing contacts between the local institutions (including the Mutual Aid Committees), and local representatives of the central Government (such as District Officers and their liaison staff);

(b) drawing Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council from a wider social background, including community leaders identified from the local institutions mentioned at (a) above;

(c) appointing in due course, "Ministers" (care will be needed to find a term to take into account Chinese sensitivities) for

major fields of Government policy from among the Unofficial Members

of the Executive Council who would be answerable for them in the

Legislative Council; and

(a)

localising the Civil Service as much as possible bearing in mind the need to maintain a proportion of expatriates to maintain`

confidence in the continuance of the colonial link.

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1.