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the beginning rather than forming items of issue at a later stage. It is Gladstone who is blamed for the difficulties that Local Governments face in England now and as a result and I quote "like a true Victorian parent he provided them with the minimum of opportunity and a short supply of pocket money and kept a stick ever ready for their transgressions". Let us be certain that this is avoided at the onset and that when the Greater Hong Kong Council is born its parents are not accused of Victorianism in this Elizabethan age.
Mr. Chairman with these few words, I support the motion.
DR. LEE:- Mr. Chairman, I welcome this opportunity of speaking on the report of the ad hoc committee on the future scope and operation of the Urban Council. At the beginning I want to congratulate the committee under the able chairmanship of Mr. A. de O. SALES for producing such a good report which shows sign that much labour and care have gone into it. From my own recollection this is the best report of its kind in the Urban Council, and I am sure by its very nature on the future scope and operation of the Urban Council it will go down in history as a red letter day and an important landmark in the constitutional development of this Council. A considerable achievement of the committee is its ability to command a consensus of opinion in its main recommendation. I don't imagine that in a controversial subject such as this, where there is a genuine difference of opinion it is at all easy to marry such a divergence. It is admirable to note that although many sections of opinion are representing their differences, their difference is well submerged, and only the majority view prevails. This shows to a certain extent the iron discipline exercised by the Chairman of the Committee. (Laughter).
As the report is very long and copious I do not intend to dissect it as the Commissioner for Resettlement has done. I shall be very satisfied if I may be permitted to deal with those parts that are of mutual interest. Because of its vast canvas the report may be criticized as over-ambitious. Piecemeal proposals have been made in this Council for its reform in the past with varying success, but never on this large scale nor with the blessing of every Unofficial in this Chamber. As this is a charter for full local Government we should unite and give this Motion our unreserved support.
I like the name "Greater Hong Kong Council" and all that it implies. I believe that it is more appropriate than our present nomenclature which is the Urban Council, and it shall have my vote.
I am positive that there will be differences of views expressed on the scope and power of the Urban Council; on that we can talk until the cows come home. At every level of society, I am aware how strongly members feel on the subject of social welfare, education and medical services. I am not going to devote special time on these three large departments which have a large obligation to the people of Hong Kong. Knowing that courage is not one of their weaknesses, I am sure I can rely on Members to show it when the occasion arises, as some four million people's hope and aspiration depend upon its acceptance.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I have much pleasure in supporting the motion.
DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL WELFARE:- Sir, I am sure that the initiative taken by this Council to prepare proposals for administrative reform will be generally welcome; but I cannot help wondering whether the motion now before Council, which proposes the acceptance of the Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future Scope and Operation of the Urban Council, is altogether consistent with the general principles that His Excellency the Governor advocated in his address to the Legislative Council last February. I refer specifically to the suggestion that "any changes made should not be precipitate or over adventurous" and that "good judgment is more important than haste". We have before us a report of far-reaching implications: indeed I wonder how fully all the implications of the Report have yet been probed. This Report was first put into the hands of Council members near the end of August, and we are now being urged to accept it after what is surely a bare minimum of discussion.
Here we have a report which, with a generous hand, disposes of the responsibilities of many authorities in various directions without there having been any attempt, so far as I am aware, at discussion with those most closely concerned. I note, for example, that among other changes affecting my Department I am to receive a sizeable part of the functions of my honourable Friend, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. This is, of course, very generous, and I suppose I ought not to look a gift-horse in the mouth. I am not going to deny the possibility of merit in the proposal, but the change is no mere detail. It is one of some importance and, although both of us are members of this Council, I do not think that either of us was consulted by the Committee—certainly I was not, any more than I was consulted on any other matter in the Report affecting my Department. Is this not a somewhat singular way of going about business? Perhaps not, if you start from the viewpoint expressed in paragraph 48 of the Report that, although there is a need for official members to be on the Greater Hong Kong Council, they should, either by law or by convention, not vote on any matter dealt with by the Council. Quite apart from the curiousness of the idea that the Colonial Secretary, who is the principal executive officer of Central Government, should be sitting on a local Government Council, the suggestion that he and other officials should do so without a vote in the proceedings is to my mind without warrant,
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