For those interested in the evolution of Hong Kong's local councils, which the Government is considering reforming, a 32-year-old document, Report of the Working Party on Local Administration, remains a good starting point for discussion.
Written in 1966 by a six-member committee of civil servants chaired by Bill Dickinson, the report's objective was to 'explore and advise on practicable alternatives for the development of an effective and convenient system of local administration'.
It was drawn up after Hong Kong's population had grown from less than a million after World War II to 3.8 million. Any changes were to 'take account of the size and complexity of the existing urban areas, the planned creation of new towns in the New Territories, and the different stages and development in the rural areas'.
Explaining the rationale for commissioning the report, then Governor Sir David Trench said: 'An effective method of providing controlled channels for the exercise of local initiative in the management of purely local affairs is a valuable - indeed an almost essential - adjunct to the government of any country.' At that time, a limited form of public participation in local government was available only through the Urban Council, responsible for public health and hygiene in the main urban areas. Members of the council included officials and non-officials, some appointed and others elected on a limited franchise extended to those who were both ratepayers and on the jurors' list.
The Dickinson report called for the setting up of municipal councils for Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon, urban district councils for new towns such as Tsuen Wan and district (or local) councils for rural areas.
It said the councils should comprise elected and nominated members in the ratio of 3:1 or 3:2 and should levy rates to finance their operations. They were to undertake a whole range of executive functions in the areas of public health, education, welfare, licensing and housing. All adults, or alternatively ratepayers, were to have the vote.
