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The District Councils, formerly District Boards until 1999, are the local councils for the 18 Districts of Hong Kong. Under the supervision of Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Government, they are consultative bodies on district administration and affairs. == History == An early basis for the delivery of local services were the Kaifong associations, set up in 1949. However, by the 1960s, these had ceased to represent local interests, and so, in 1968, the government established the first local administrative structure with the City District Offices, which were intended to enable it to mobilise support for its policies and programmes, such as in health and crime-reduction campaigns. An aim was also to monitor the grass roots, following the 1967 riots.〔, from p140〕 Under the Community Involvement Plan, launched in the early 1970s, Hong Kong and Kowloon were divided into 74 areas, each of around 45,000 people. For each, an 'area committee' of twenty members was then appointed by the City District Officers, and was comprised, for the first time, of members from all sectors of the local community, led by an unofficial member of the Legislative Council. The initial purpose was to help implement the 'Clean Hong Kong' campaign, by distributing publicity material to local people.This was held to be a success.〔 A next stage in the government's effort to increase local engagement and influence was the setting up, in June 1973, of mutual aid committees (MACs) in high-rise residential buildings. These were described in Legco as "a group of responsible citizens, resident in the same multi-storey building who work together to solve common problems of cleanliness and security." In fact, they were tightly controlled by the government. With government encouragement, the number of such committees increased rapidly in these private buildings, from 1,214 in 1973 to 3,463 in 1980. The scheme was extended to public housing estates, of which 800 had MACs in 1980, as well as factories and in the New Territories.〔 The next development was the establishment of eight district advisory boards in the districts of the New Territories, starting with Tsuen Wan in 1977. The boards, whose members were appointed, were more formally constituted than the city district boards, charged with advising on local matters, recommending minor district works, and conducting cultural and recreational activities. Then in 1982, under the governorship of Sir Murray MacLehose, the District Boards were established under the District Administration Scheme. The aim was to improve co-ordination of government activities in the provision of services and facilities at the district level and the boards initially took over the roles of the district advisory boards.〔〔(District Administration ) Hong Kong Government〕 At first, the boards comprised only appointed members and government officials, but from 1982, a proportion of each was elected.〔 In an attempt to inject a democratic element into the Legislative Council, the government introduced a model where some legislators were elected indirectly by District Council members. Twelve legislators were returned by an 'electoral college' of district councillors in 1985. The practice was repeated in 1988 and 1995.〔Cheung,Gary (14 November 2009), "Universal suffrage an elusive goal", ''South China Morning Post''〕 After the HKSAR was established, as part of the 'through train', the District Boards became Provisional District Boards, composed of all the original members of the Boards supplemented by others appointed by the chief executive. (Under the British administration, the Governor had refrained from appointing any member.) Later in early 1999 a bill was passed in the Legislative Council providing mainly for the establishment, composition and functions of the District Councils, which would replace the Provisional District Boards. The 27 ''ex officio'' seats of Rural Committees, abolished by the colonial authorities, were reinstated. The government rejected any public survey or referendum on the issue, saying that it had been studying the issue since 1997, and had received 98 favourable submissions. The self-proclaimed pro-democracy camp dubbed the move "a setback to the pace of democracy" because it was a throwback to the colonial era.〔Carmen Cheung, ("Referendum ruled out on seats issue" ), ''The Standard'', 20 January 1999〕 In 2010, the government proposed that five legislators be added to District Council functional constituencies, and be elected by proportional representation of elected DC members.〔Lee, Diana, (15 April 2010). ('Grab this golden chance' ), ''The Standard''〕 In a politically controversial deal between the Democratic Party and the Beijing government, this was changed to allow the five seats to be elected by those members of the general electorate who did not otherwise have a functional constituency vote. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「District Councils of Hong Kong」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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