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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. BERNACCHI :--Thank you very much. You are beginning now to answer the question. The second supplementary concerns the one in Chai Wan. Is that an area which provides ample camping facilities?
MR. SALES: -The one in Chai Wan is run by the Boy Scout Association; it is the second one on our list and the moment it was taken over by the Boy Scout Association the responsibility was vested with that Association for the provision of facilities, and the responsibility does not attach to the Urban Council.
MR. BERNACCHI:-But is this one still functioning?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, to the best of my knowledge it is but I would be delighted to make enquiries from the Boy Scout Association and let the member from Chai Wan know in due course.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Thank you.
CHAIRMAN:-Ladies and gentlemen, at this stage I would like to suggest a short recess.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman I object to the recess being called because it might be an attempt to muzzle Mr. BERNACCHI and I would not like to see this. (Laughter).
MR. BERNACCHI:-Oh no no, I have no further supplementary questions.
(A brief recess was held at this point).
(12) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
Will the Chairman of Urban Council seek confirmation from Government that a revised report on local government expansion has already been submitted to Government? Will the Chairman please obtain copies from the Government to supply to Members of the Urban Council's Standing Committee of the Whole for their detailed study?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-
I have been informed, as one aspect of the consideration which Government, over the past two years, has been giving to the feasibility of improving the Colony's local administrative structure, that a study has recently been completed which makes special reference to the possible development of the existing Urban Council. I am further informed that no decision has yet been taken about the manner in which this new study can most satisfactorily be processed.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: ---Mr. Chairman, with due deference, may I ask whether you drafted this reply yourself or was it drafted for you by the Secretariat and handed down to you?
CHAIRMAN:—A joint effort, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you, I congratulate you. Mr. Chairman, could I ask for an explanation as to the meaning between local administrative structure and local Government in this context.
CHAIRMAN: I suppose there are other aspects to this than local government structure Mr. CHEONG-LEEN-administrative arrangements, the review of general Government administrative affairs.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Again speaking in the context of this question and reply, am I to understand that, Sir, local government means part of the local administrative structure as encompassed by that so-called octopus the Colonial Secretariat?
CHAIRMAN:-As things stand, as you know Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, this Council is a part of the Government.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, has an octopus got a mating call too? (Laughter).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, you know just as well as all of us that the Urban Council is not an octopus; but to clarify the matter further Mr. Chairman, who is the authority that makes the decision as to the manner in which this study can be processed? Is it the Colonial Secretariat?
CHAIRMAN: I should think that the recommendations would go from the Secretariat to the Governor.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, as you may probably be aware, this report has been completed for several months already. Now, could you ask the Colonial Secretariat whether it proposes to drag on this business of studying local government.
CHAIRMAN:-Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, you are imputing something to the Secretariat.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, isn't the answer implicit in your reply that Government over the past two years has been studying the feasibility of improving the Colony's local administrative structure and I am wondering that, in the context of your reply, whether we aren't fighting a lost cause?
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