HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
translation for more than thirty years, I have found the work of translation full of pitfalls. Let me give one or two examples to illustrate my point.
In pre-war days in Hong Kong, every tram car was provided with a little red box marked in English, "Unpaid Fares". By the side of each little box there was a short translation in Chinese which, when re-translated into English, would mean "If you have not paid your fare, kindly jump into this little red box". (Laughter). It was most fortunate that no Chinese passenger ever took the instruction seriously. Again, before the War, a European lady interviewing a cook-boy asked him what wages he wanted, and when the reply came, she was more shocked than amused, for he said, "Madam, ten dollars I eat you; twenty dollars I eat myself". (Laughter).
I have cited these instances not to detract from the merits of Mr. BERNACCHI's motion. In the complex community in Hong Kong the language problem is bound to come up, which would admit of no easy solution. Even among the Chinese, the multiplicity of dialects is a perpetual headache as the court interpreters would testify. If Mr. Wilfred WONG and I were to converse in our own dialects, I am afraid he would perhaps listen with disdain to my Cantonese which was regarded as the dialect of the Southern barbarians outside the Central Kingdom of ancient Cathay. Perhaps in this connexion, I must admire Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's ingenuity: when confronted by a Northerner, he claims to have originated from Canton, (Laughter) and when challenged by a Cantonese like myself, he invariably claims to have come from regions near the Forbidden City! (Laughter).
I am afraid, Sir, I am really digressing. May I conclude with the hope that when this motion is discussed in Standing Committee of the Whole, we will be able to overcome all the technicalities in connexion with it. I look forward to the day when we shall listen to Mr. BERNACCHI debating hawker problems in Cantonese tones which our former colleague, Dr. Alison BELL, would have envied, or Mrs. ELLIOTT asking supplementary questions on resettlement in perfect Mandarin, or Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN holding forth on the merits of a zoo or an oceanarium to be built on the right side of the harbour in a dialect between the two. (Laughter). Sir, you will forgive my presumption but when I refer to the right side of the harbour I mean the land of Nine Dragons.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I have the pleasure to second Dr. Woo's motion.
MR. BERNACCHI:-I think, Mr. Chairman, that I should now reply on Dr. Woo's motion, to refer this motion into Committee of the Whole. In reply, of course, I will comment perhaps briefly on the speeches that have been made.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Mr. WATSON refers to the United Nations Association of Hong Kong. Now, that Association came out with a similar proposal after my proposal had been forwarded to the Secretary of the Urban Council. Whether there was a leak or not I do not know. (Laughter). Certainly, the United Nations Association of Hong Kong, in my opinion, goes far beyond their constitution. It is not a coalition motion of any sort, but should I say the Reform Club leads the way? (Laughter). In answer to Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN, when he says that he considers that the motion, if adopted, will lengthen meetings so as to have a break for dinner, of course, the answer is "simultaneous translation".
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt on a point of order? I did not say that meetings should be lengthened so as to have a break for dinner, but I did suggest that it could be possible to have a break for dinner.
MR. BERNACCHI:-I accept Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN's correction. Dr. Woo says that the Civic Association in fact supports this motion in principle and in view of his support as Chairman of that Association, I have decided not to vote on his motion, to refer my motion into Committee of the Whole. The instances cited by Mr. LI YIU-BOR of incorrect translation, of course, can be clarified and rectified by better translators, who are paid for the skill they possess, but it also illustrates the lack of co-ordination between the Government, who conduct their affairs in English, and the local population, who are 80% or more of Cantonese race and speak Cantonese as their mother tongue. I am therefore, as I have said, not going to vote on this motion, to refer my motion into Committee of the Whole, and I trust that, if it is passed, Dr. Woo will support me and my motion in the Committee of the Whole hereafter.
CHAIRMAN:-The motion before the Council, that the subject of debate be referred back to the Standing Committee of the Whole Council, was proposed by Dr. P. F. Woo and seconded by Mr. Li Yiu-bor.
The question was put.
The motion as proposed by Dr. Woo was carried, with 14 for, nil against, and 4 abstaining.
(2) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN moved the following motion:
In view of the slow progress of the resettlement programme during the first half of the current financial year (April - September 1964), primarily as a result of the several typhoons recently experienced, this Council urges Govern-
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