{
358 HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL —9th February 1972.
[MR WONG] White Paper on the Urban Council
which are bursting at the seams, will once again be thoroughfares which is the raison d'etre of their existance.
I support the motion for the adoption of the White Paper.
MRS ELLEN LI:-Sir, as one of the alumni of the Urban Council, it is only natural that I am deeply interested and concerned about the work of the Urban Council and the intended "reform" of the Council outlined in the White Paper before us this afternoon.
The White Paper in its present form can not be described or considered as anything "soul shattering", because the only major changes recommended are the complete withdrawal of Official Members from the Council and a limited extension of financial autonomy. The additional licensing duties are accepted as something that would have been done a long time ago. The four additional seats are needed to share the responsibilities of the numerous select committees, and will mean a wider choice of candidates for Government and the public during election time when and if the bi-lingual system is brought into practice.
However, inspite of its limited scope, the White Paper has been accepted in general as a practical proposition under our present economic and political atmosphere. It is at least one step forward in the right direction although it is but one tiny step. Caution is the key-note of our stability and we have not done too badly so far by being a little cautious. The words "dramatic", "drastic" and "revolu- tionary" are not words we can find in our Hong Kong dictionary.
Having said all that about the White Paper as a whole, I would like to comment on two specific subjects: namely, the franchise and housing.
The White Paper recommends that the present franchise be retained. It is felt that, since only about 10% of the qualified voters actually registered and only a few thousand turned out at the polls, the present franchise is adequate for the purpose at the present moment. Personally, I am more concerned about the principles behind it, i.e. the categories of persons qualified for voting and the educational standard necessary for the qualification.
I am sure many of us agree that, for the time being, secondary school standard of education is perhaps the right level of requirement for any intellectual or intelligent election to the 10 or 12 elected seats. The present limitation to certain specific certificate holders, such as the School Certificate, the Certificate of Education, Technical School, etc.,