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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I should like to make a final point on this subject. One of the recommendations made in the Reports of the Standing Committee and the Advisory Committee on Corruption was that bi-lingual pamphlets should be used by licensing departments to detail the procedures and requirements for obtaining licences. I am glad to say that in the case of Urban Council licences, such pamphlets have been readily available for some years for free issue to all applicants for our licences. It is quite simple to discover the procedure for obtaining a licence and there is no need to pay for this service.
I come now to the question of the Hawker Control Force. Whilst acknowledging the need for such a Force, some Members were critical of its actions. Allegations of corruption were made. I would point out first that it is your Force, conceived and directed by, and administered through, this Council, and I do not wish to commit myself here to a long-winded apology for its existence. I firmly believe that if the Force is properly handled the clear benefit of its achievements will in time silence hostile criticism.
I would ask you to remember that complaints about the Force sometimes show a partisan tendency, for its members are trying to exercise control where little or no control has been exercised for years, and that it is still a very new Force and is bound to have some teething troubles. While I do not discount the possibility of intimidation and corruption being exercised by some of its members, I do not believe that such irregularities form a general pattern of conduct among the Force as a whole. Its members are trained and constantly charged to act with restraint and whenever possible to secure better control through co-operation rather than compulsion.
It has been agreed by the Markets Select Committee that there are good practical reasons for having the Force operating in our markets. The manner of operation is now being studied in detail, with a view to giving clearer guidance to members of the Force. Active steps have also been taken to achieve better understanding and co-operation between the department and representative bodies of market stallholders and hawkers. I hope that all this will lead to a better service for the public. Let me say finally, on this subject, that there clearly remains plenty to be done to improve the conditions in our markets and hawker areas, and that I believe that recent improvements in conditions at some markets and many hawker areas are due to the better supervision exercised by the Hawker Control Force.
Both Mr. CHEONG-LEEN and Mr. SALES referred to the question of public relations and public co-operation, and their views have been forwarded to Government. In particular, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN referred to a suggestion he had made two years ago that the Council should be provided with a full-time, experienced Public Relations Officer. I find that a paper was issued to Members subsequently, in September 1960, explaining that the Director of Information Services had said that there had never been approval for the secondment of a Public Relations Officer, as such, exclusively to the Urban Council, but that it had always been the intention for Information Officers of his department to assist the major departments in the matter of publicity.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
From my own experience I have always found the Information Services Department to be most understanding and helpful when it has been necessary to seek its assistance, and this was borne out recently in respect of criticism of the use of the Hawker Control Force in our public markets.
I can assure Members that the value of good public relations and public co-operation is fully appreciated in the Urban Services Department.
Just over four hundred years ago, a Scotsman by the name of John KNOX wrote a treatise entitled "The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women”. (Laughter). I believe he learned to regret it, because he lived at a time when there was a queen of Scotland and a queen of England. But I venture to think that he would never have dared to publish his attack on the monstrous regiment of women had he known his fellow countrywoman, Dr. Alison BELL. (Laughter).
On Dr. BELL's remarks concerning the appointment of a woman to this Council I can say that I listened to them with close interest and sympathy, and I am sure that other Members did the same. There is nothing I can add, except to mention that such appointments to this Council are a subject for the personal decision of His Excellency the Governor.
Perhaps it is some consolation to Dr. BELL that Mr. K. S. Lo, although as he agreed-regrettably a man, had to make a maiden speech. (Laughter). I must say I thought that he did it with becoming modesty.
Finally, let me say how pleased I was to hear several references at the last meeting to the harmonious relations prevailing in this Council to-day. I think that this is a tribute to the good sense and public spirit of all Members, who, by their unremitting endeavours, continue to enhance the reputation of this Council in the eyes of the citizens of Hong Kong. I thank you for the kind words said about the Urban Services Department.
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