HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Officers are political officers and not ombudsmen. Now, the Ward Office system has some resemblance to the ombudsman system. The City District Officers we must remember are counterparts of the New Territories District Officers, although at first they will have few executive functions. Thus, the City District Officers are a localized manifestation of the central government.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, arising from your reply to my supplementary question, will you give this Council the assurance if you can, that the District Officers are political officers and not political commissars (Laughter).
CHAIRMAN: -I am glad to give that assurance.
MR. SALES: Thank you Sir.
(Mrs. Ellen LI left the meeting at this point)
(10) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
Does the Secretary for Chinese Affairs envisage that there will be close cooperation between the work of the ten Urban District Officers who will soon be appointed and the unofficial members of this Council who are responsible for the ten Ward Offices in the urban areas? Does he envisage that there will be duplication of effort?
If so, to what extent can this be minimized?
THE SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS replied as follows:
Sir, I envisage City District Officers doing their best to cooperate with the Council in every possible way. I do not envisage that there will be duplication of effort.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -Mr. Chairman, I am ready to accept that assurance from the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. Since, Mr. Chairman, you have said that the District Officers will be political officers, could you define what is a political officer since I had always assumed that civil servants are not supposed to be involved in politics?
CHAIRMAN: -I shall not attempt to answer that question myself. I happen to know that there's a passage in Mr. Tsui's speech which will cover the point.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, under standing orders that is not a sufficient answer-to refer to a paper which has not yet been tabled.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN: -I beg Council's pardon. Would Mr. Tsui please read out the passage in his speech to which I refer?
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS: -Am I going to deliver my speech before the debate?
CHAIRMAN: -Mr. Tsui has a list of the duties of these officers which will, I hope, illustrate the reason that they are described as political officers. If he makes an extract without an introduction you must forgive him.
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS: -The tasks set for the City District Officers will include: (a) being as accessible as possible to those living in their district, and keeping in touch with local organizations; (b) assessing the overall impact of Government policies on the people of their district; (c) explaining Government policies, difficulties and achievements; (d) considering and advising on the co-ordination of public services with the districts; (e) recommending variations in emphasis suitable to needs of the region in the implementation of departmental policies; (f) initiating proposals for changes in policies or new policies when the need for these becomes apparent from the feeling of the public; (g) getting to learn of problems and conflicts at an early stage before attitudes have been struck; (h) generating a greater confidence in Government among the people.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -Mr. Chairman, I thank Mr. Tsui for enumerating the various functions of the political officer. Would he agree that there is a certain amount of duplication in effort of the elected members of this Council who are also required to perform almost similar functions?
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS: -By the time I've finished answering questions I'll have nothing to say after. (Laughter). However, here in Hong Kong we are dealing with the fabric of the services of some 70,000 public servants working for a population of nearly 4 million people. May I repeat, 4 million, which is a tremendously big number. It takes 45 days, working round the clock, just to count 4 million, and that is only so if we can sustain a counting speed at the rate of one person per second. If I alone were to work only eight hours a day, and deprive myself of the privilege of any rest on Sundays or holidays, I shall need some 1,400 years to enable myself to spend just one hour talking to each of them. Well, seeing such circumstances, could there be any duplication?
Mr. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, MR. CHEONG-LEEN in asking his supplementary phrased it rather unfortunately and I would like to ask the secretary to read that supplementary again because I have to make a statement on behalf of the appointed members.
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