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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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MINUTES.
The minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 7th May, 1968 were confirmed.
PAPER.
THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following paper:-
(1) Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban Services Department for the month of May, 1968.
DR. BELL:- Mr. Chairman, I rise to say a word on the Ward System. I was happy to welcome to my Ward Office, on Monday before last, the City District Officer of the Mong Kok District who came to see for himself the work that was being done there. I think he was able to study the method by which we keep our files and deal with our cases and he expressed appreciation and said that he had learnt quite a lot from his visit. I was also happy to be able to give him a case to deal with. I think that the Mong Kok Ward Office surprised him in that there were so many people who had come there. He claimed, at the end of his visit, to have discovered the secret why, and when I asked him why, he said, "I think because when the people come here they are not just greeted with a very stern looking face that says what is your name, what is the trouble, do this, do that, but they are invited to sit down and treated as human beings." I was quite impressed by his remarks which I pass on to members of the Council for what it is worth.
(Mr. H. CHEONG-LEEN arrived at this point).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, several members of the public have asked me in recent weeks about the difference between the Urban Council Ward Offices and the City District Offices. I read in an English language newspaper several days ago a letter which said that the difference between Ward Councillors and City District Officers was that the former, meaning the Ward Councillors, mostly offer sympathy while the latter, the City District Officers, follow up with action. Now as you know, Mr. Chairman, we have ten Ward Offices of the Urban Council and these are manned only by Unofficial Members, appointed and elected. They are not paid for the work they do. They receive complaints and suggestions from members of the public on matters both within and outside the scope of the Urban Council. Those matters that fall within the scope of the Urban Council are naturally referred to either the Urban Services Department or the Resettlement Department for action, but there are other subjects which are outside the scope of the Council and these include individual problems of residents concerning education, immigration, illegal gambling, a missing son or daughter, and so on. Now, the role of the City District Officers, Mr. Chairman, as I see it, is primarily to make civil servants more aware of what is in the minds of the general public. There are over 70,000 civil servants in the local administration and more often than not the civil servants live in a little world of their own. They are a city within a city. So I believe, Sir, the City District Officer System will strengthen communication between the general public and civil servants. In addition, the City District Officer will attempt to assist individual members of the public who may have personal problems to be solved by one or more Government departments. It should also be remembered, Sir, that the City District Officers are full-time civil servants and this constitutes another significant difference between the City District Offices and the Urban Council Ward system. There is, of course, a slight duplication in the efforts of Ward Councillors and City District Officers, but I don't think that this is very important. I would hope to see continued closer co-operation between Ward Councillors and City District Officers rather than a duplication of their efforts to serve the Hong Kong community.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I have no statement to make as a Ward member; I would only like to ask for clarification. In the past, whenever there has been a knotty problem in my Ward my solution was simple—I referred it to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN. In the future, could I, with your permission, refer all these problems directly to Mr. Paul Tsui and his City District Officers without even referring them to my colleague Mr. CHEONG-LEEN? I would like the City District Officers to take over completely all the work that we are doing in that respect and I should be most grateful for a categorical assurance from Mr. Paul TSUI that they would be very happy to handle the problems which I might pass on to them.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- On a point of personal clarification, Mr. Chairman, I would like it to be put on record that all the knotty problems which came within our Ward to Mr. SALES in the first instance were never passed on to me but they were handled by Mr. SALES himself. (Laughter).
MR. SALES:- I was referring to k-n-o-t-t-y and not n-a-u-g-h-t-y. (Laughter).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Whatever it was Mr. Chairman, whether it was "naughty" or "knotty" problems, Mr. SALES handled them himself; but I would also put on record that there were many difficult problems which required the detailed interviewing and investigation on the part of the City District Officers which I have referred over the past few months to one or more senior City District Officers and I must say that they were handled efficiently and satisfactorily.
MR. SALES: Does that mean that I can also make two statements as Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has done? (Laughter).
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