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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The thing now that is necessary is to make it palatable to the majority of the Government, including the United Kingdom Government.
Basically, the Report advocates what is in fact the abolition of the Urban Council as at present constituted, and in substitution, a 2-tiered system of local Government. The Senior Local Government body is the Greater Hong Kong Council, just as, for instance, the Senior London Local Authority is the Greater London Council. Take for example, Education; in the scheme proposed today, education is put under the Greater Hong Kong Council; in London, it is put under the Inner London Education Authority. It is suggested that in Hong Kong, as in London, Specialist Select Committees be formed dealing with education matters. Indeed, the membership of the Inner London Education Authority are the Greater London Councillors plus a selection of the Inner London Borough Councillors, which is adequately accounted for in the composition of the Greater Hong Kong Council as the proposed council includes appointments from the District Councils.
I need not deal at length with the powers and duties of the Proposed Greater Hong Kong Council nor of those of the District Councils; members can read the Report for themselves! But I must say that a certain amount of misunderstanding has arisen as regards the New Territories. The proposal is that the Heung Yee Kuk be the New Territories District Council with unchanged composition. Therefore, the Heung Yee Kuk will have more power, not less power than before, as the present Heung Yee Kuk is only a glorified advisory Committee, whereas it should be a proper District Council for the Rural Districts (including present townships) of the New Territories.
It would be wrong for me to hide the fact that it is envisaged in this Report that this Report amounts to the putting of some aspects of the Colonial Secretariat's work under the Greater Hong Kong Council, so that the Greater Hong Kong Council will supervise the work of the District Council instead of, as at present, the Colonial Secretariat supervising the work of the Urban Council. At present, the Colonial Secretariat has grown into a terrible monster (Laughter) that every department and almost every Council's work has to come up to, and be approved by, before action is taken. With a population of 4 millions, Hong Kong is too large now to have this monster sitting over the everyday life of the people of Hong Kong. Decentralization is the answer, and this Report is the Epic of decentralization (although I say so myself as among the members of the Ad Hoc Committee that formulated this Report). (Laughter).
MR. SALES: - Part of it.
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MR. BERNACCHI: - I agree. I would call members' attention to page 2 of the "Foreword": —
"We believe that to ask for a case to be made out in this day and age, for the people to be given more responsibility in public affairs is to fly in the face of progress and to negate the rights of man." This Report does give the citizens of Hong Kong a real say in their day-to-day life without endangering in any way the security of Hong Kong. By that means, it ensures that when the New Territories Lease is running out, this City and District will have a population that regards Hong Kong as their home, and we will be in a very much better position to negotiate with whatever Government there will be in China, then, for the continued existence of Hong Kong either under the British Crown or eventually as a Free City.
At District Councils level, the whole of the residents of that district are to be given a vote; at Greater Hong Kong Council level, the electorate is still to be a limited one, the same as the new Urban Council Electorate, but that electorate itself will, in time, be greatly increased as young people who have passed their School Certificate Examination become 21 and entitled under that electorate to vote. Of course, the electorate for the Greater Hong Kong Council needs to be kept under review and reasonably expanded from time to time.
Mr. Chairman, I said before members can read the Report for themselves; the time is anyhow too limited to enlarge on the Report, and it is, I am sure, already so very well known to members. I am also sure that the proposer of this Motion will exercise his right to reply, to answer any and all criticisms that may be levelled at the Report this afternoon. The members of the Ad Hoc Committee responsible for the Report were indeed a cross-section of the Unofficials of this Council. Mr. SALES, the Chairman, is the Senior Appointed Unofficial, and he was deliberately elected Chairman, not only for his known ability as Chairman, but also to make it quite clear to members that this is an Unofficial members' report and not merely an Elected Members' report. Indeed, Mr. SALES was supported by another Nominated Unofficial, Mr. Wilson WANG, as well as Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN; I need not say to which side of this, in theory, four-cornered house he belongs, and myself representing the Reform Club.
When I went away on holiday in late July, Dr. BELL substituted for me and she attended a number of meetings all through August, the holiday month. The Report reads as if she only attended one meeting, which is far from correct. I must thank her for her substitution, which permitted me to go on a holiday planned long before, and she did indeed put a considerable amount of work into finalizing the Report as now presented to members.
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