Jor Badi File
HINA MAIL, SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1969
Mhe. Ganyang AV. 5
'SYSTEM HASN'T CHANGED FOR 100 YEARS'
MR
QC calls
calls for
reform
R Gerald de Basto, QC, claimed today the Hongkong Bar Association has had to step in more than once to stop "undesirable legislation" being passed with- out major amendments.
He blamed shortcomings in the make- up of the Legislative Council.
These shortcomings had made it possible for laws seriously affecting individual rights to be passed with "unseem- ly alacrity" and a con- spicuous lack of debate.
"The basic difficulty is, of course, that governed by
a
We are system
which has not basically changed in the last 100
years, he told the CHINA MAIL in a special inter- view.
Mr de Basto is Chairman of the Hongkong Bar Asso- ciation.
Outspoken
His remarks followed an carlier attack on the Gov- ernment in his annual re- port to the Association.
Mr de Basto described Legislative Council meet- Ings as a "rather dreary, sleep-inducing formality.”
"Although it's true that recently more questions have been asked by the Unofficial Members, these questions, with few excep-
tions, bave been uninspir- ing and seemed to have generated little enthusiasm arnong members of the public," he said.
Mr Gerald de Basto
Mr de Basto said that in the past few years an in- creasing number of people had become more out- spoken about the system of government.
"This points to an under- lying discontent among many members of the com- munity and a desire for some form of reform," he said.
In his annual report, Mr de Basto suggested that Leg- co members should be paid
that wwwSO
the field for selection would be 0011- siderably extended from the present "relative small"' number who are financially independent,
"The Colony can, and should, pay for the services of those best suited to serve it," he said.
Honour
Mr de Basto said Unoffi- cial Members were now un- paid for services which car- ried heavy responsibilities.
"Apart from the
appointed,
honour
"It would follow that only persons who are sufficiently independent financially to undertake
work such
gratuitously cau, at present, be con- sidered for nomination.”
Mr de Basto told the CHINA MAIL he was in favour
of an Ombudsman for Hongkong.
"I find the idea parti- cularly attractive," he said. "But the Ombudsman would have to be vested with wide-reaching powers and be, in every sense, com- from pletely independent Government to be really effective.
"Many ills could, to a large extent, be mitigated Ombudsman," he
an
by added. or
of being elected, to councils (Legisla- tive and Urban),
many of
these Unofficials, being un- paid, must suffer financially in respect of the time spent on their council work," he said.
This must apply parti- cularly to those who self-employed.
are
13
List of
The Legislative Council in session.
#Hi
HKLI