The hand-over of political control from a colonial administration to a locally elected one has been on the agenda for a number of years, though virtually all real political control is still vested in the Governor. After a brief discussion of the existing provisions reference is made to the movement, partly at Chinese insistence, towards democracy. One aspect of this is the creation of District Boards dating from 1982 and of which there are 18. Turnout in local elections is low, but is higher in rural than in urban areas. Despite this experience there has been additional cautious movement towards democratisation since 1984, though China's ultimate attitude is not really understood. -D.G.Price