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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(3) Resumption of the following motion moved by Mr. H. CHEONG-LEEN, Chairman of the Standing Orders and Procedure Select Committee, at the meeting of the Council held on 4th January, 1966:-
That the Standing Orders of this Council adopted at the meeting of the Council held on 28th June, 1955 be amended as follows:
Standing Order No.
10(1)
Amendment
Except with the sanction of the Standing Committee of the Whole Council every motion must be confined to some matter included within Section 54 of the Urban Council Ordinance, 1955, or dealing with the procedure of the Council.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, looked at from the outside, the amendment to Standing Orders as contained in the motion under debate, may not seem of major significance.
But looking further ahead, and from the point of view of the orderly expansion of the scope of the Urban Council, this motion is of vital importance.
Since last year, Unofficial members commenced moving ultra vires motions, that is, motions which have to do with matters outside the scope of the Urban Council.
This in effect has made the Urban Council a strong platform on which the views of the elected and appointed Unofficials can be heard by the Government and by the Colonial Office.
It is true that the Government does not have to accept any of the recommendations in any of the motions passed by the Urban Council.
But the very fact that such motions can and are debated in this Government Council—and they are usually reported by the free press which exists in Hong Kong—is a unique feature of our evolving local democratic system.
The purpose of this amendment to Standing Orders is to streamline and improve the procedure whereby Unofficial members may move and debate ultra vires motions.
Last year we debated motions on citizenship, education and on the ward system. Today we debate motions on an Ombudsman and on the probability of law-abiding citizens being threatened with deportation.
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I am in every way convinced that full debate of these motions in this Government Council is very welcome by the great majority of people living in Hong Kong.
Although the Urban Council's motion last year to have the Director of Education become an official member of this Council was not accepted by Government, it is still intended to raise this matter for reconsideration by Government and by the Colonial Office in the near future. The provision of more and better education facilities for Hong Kong's young people is a vital subject in which this Urban Council will take a continuing and active interest.
An expansion of the Urban Council's scope, Mr. Chairman, is inevitable, and it is best that such change takes place in the orderly and constructive manner that is presently the case.
Under Standing Order 10(1) as it now stands, an Ultra Vires motion cannot be debated unless permission is given at an Urban Council meeting in Committee of the Whole. This procedure does not usually give Council members enough time to understand the purpose and the wider implications of a particular Ultra Vires motion.
The proposed amendment will correct this defect in Standing Orders. It will also give an opportunity for all Council members to listen to the reasons why the mover of an ultra vires motion wishes to have his or her motion debated before it is put on the Order Paper of an Urban Council meeting.
I therefore hope that members of Council will give this motion their unanimous support.
MR. SALES: --Sir, I second the motion and reserve my speech. (Laughter).
MR. BERNACCHI:- Sir, I had not intended to speak on this motion at all, but really the proposer of it surely has got it in the wrong context. As he himself has said, we have this evening debated the principle of an Ombudsman and the question of detainees. The question surely is not whether we should debate these matters but whether there should be an alteration in the Standing Orders. Whereas the Standing Orders contain the provision at present that the sanction of the Council in Committee of the Whole shall be obtained the motion is to substitute the Standing Committee of the Whole Council, which is a different committee, although composed of the same members; and for myself I do not really see much difference. There is something to be said for the Standing Committee of the Whole Council. There is also something to be said for the Council in Committee of the Whole, and I personally do not intend to vote on this motion.
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