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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Hawker Control Force personnel when patrolling markets, where the stalls are let out on a more or less permanent basis to the highest bidder in an auction, have asked as to why they have not got authorized hawkers' photographs displayed on the market stall and as to where their licence is, just as if these were hawkers' stalls. I feel it is absolutely essential for these men to be fully acquainted with the type of task they are asked to do and the type of people that they will be dealing with before they are sent in to do any particular job. The Hawker Control Constables have really one of the most difficult tasks to perform in the whole of Hong Kong and we must support them, but I consider that tact and human relations should play as large a part in their training as the more stereotyped disciplinary training which they are receiving at the present time.
In conclusion, and perhaps it is a long conclusion—I want to say a few words about the future of this Council. I think we can justifiably claim to have played an important part in the overall administration of Hong Kong during the past year, which includes tackling from time to time problems which, if left to drift, could well have developed into extremely difficult situations. Not only are we responsible for the sanitary services, which include a fair measure of the Health Services, but either directly or through the Housing Authority, we are concerned with nearly all the present low-cost housing development in Hong Kong. We are responsible for the provision of Urban Amenities, in particular the administration of most of Hong Kong's parks. We have for years had to tackle the almost insoluble problem of hawking, with a population that was once described as a Nation of Hawkers.—And I, for one, am proud of the ingenuity of the local people that, in any emergency, enables them to turn to hawking for a living! We are now, in that connexion, responsible for the control of a uniformed and disciplined body—the Hawker Control Force, who are responsible not only for the direct control of hawkers but also for the control of the markets and a number of other important, if less conspicuous duties; for instance, there is an experiment we are at present carrying out whereby members of the Hawker Control Force will accompany the street cleaning squads. We also have such varied other duties as the control of beaches, the administration of certain cemeteries, the control of air conditioning, slaughterhouses, the City Hall, and many other matters directly or indirectly important to the everyday life of our people. Mr. Chairman, this is a picture of this Council today, and I think it is a disgrace to the Council and to Hong Kong that it should still be called by the name "Urban Council." It is not an Urban Council; it has nothing to do with the functions normally performed by an Urban Council, or as is usually called, an Urban District Council. Even visitors to Hong Kong get entirely the wrong impression as to what the Council is and what the Council does. I accuse the Government of deliberately keeping this name Urban Council in an attempt to derogate from the important part that the Council now plays in the life of the community. We Elected Members are sometimes accused of playing politics. Well, Sir, I accuse the Government of playing politics with all of us, and I include the Appointed Members as well as the Elected Members in that remark. Maybe the word "Municipal Council" has hidden terrors for the bureaucracy that governs Hong Kong at present. Maybe the idea of a Lord Mayor's show through the streets would make certain of our Senior Officials turn in their sleep—I certainly hope they will still be alive when it happens—but for the present, avoid all this and at least acknowledge the proper position of this Council by referring to it as the City Council of the Colony.
Linked with this matter is, of course, the feeling that this Council is being deliberately kept out of certain important matters which, at the present stage of its development, should at least be matters on which our views need to be expressed. We have a representative on the Traffic Advisory Board, but we have yet to be offered a representative on the important new public transport committee. We are very much concerned in the development of the City, both in respect to Housing Estates and the like, and in the Cultural Development, as exemplified in the City Hall and the various parks and playgrounds at present existing or planned for the future. Yet we have no representative on the Town Planning Board as such, and when we want to add any suggestions even to their recommendations, we have to appear before them in the somewhat strange role of an objector to their plans.
Therefore, Mr. Chairman, in supporting the programme which you have laid on the table as the basis of today's motion, I give notice—and I think I speak for many of us round this table here today—when I say that the matter of the status of this Council and its representation on Boards that deal with matters of importance to this Council will be stressed strongly in the coming year. (Applause).
THE VICE-CHAIRMAN moved that the debate be adjourned until the next meeting.
THE SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS seconded.
The question was put.
The motion was carried.
ADJOURNMENT.
CHAIRMAN: That concludes the business of this meeting. Council stands adjourned until Tuesday, 1st May.
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