Page 182 of 237
340
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
way. Some weeks ago, when a chance presented itself to make a small suggestion to Lord Shepherd, I did so. I asked that within the very near future an opportunity might be found for the appointment of an Executive Councillor, a Legislative Councillor and an Urban Councillor per se to serve together on Advisory Committees advising His Excellency the Governor on the work of important and controversial Government Departments. Experience gained in this way, perhaps offset against less Select Committee work on this Council, will prove invaluable training for the heavier tasks ahead here as envisaged in the Report on Local Government reform; and the harnessing of a team of councillors from all three Councils, and of experts in the field, will provide Government with a very healthy and helpful cross-section of informed opinion. We are all, come to think of it, members of the same Hong Kong team. Finally, when topical matters have passed the stage of delicate and confidential discussions, and are made public, then such councillors will be in a better position to bridge the information gap that so often exists, in almost every aspect of our complicated life in this metropolis.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I would like to suggest a new responsibility for us to bear on this Council. Is it not our duty to press again and again for the setting up of a Youth Working Party with an independent public figure of some considerable experience and integrity to head a small, compact uninhibited committee to consider, thoroughly and completely impartially the most important sector of our community - our Youth? Perhaps three terms of reference might be considered:
1. To examine the status quo of all youth services, both Government and voluntary.
2. To make recommendations to His Excellency the Governor on a comprehensive, forward-looking, imaginative and viable Youth Policy.
3. To advocate the voting of sufficient sums of money for youth work from the public purse.
I do not ask for a Youth Secretariat or a Youth Department, nor for rigid regimentation which is, fortunately, never our way in Hong Kong, nor for the dampening of personal initiative at all levels; but certainly it is the responsibility of Government to work out a Policy, which will be a realistic, decent and honest way to plan for the 70's and beyond.
I am perfectly aware that within the Colonial Secretariat there has been for some little time Co-ordinating Machinery whereby a Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary has put in very useful work. Is this not perhaps the first essential step which Government has undertaken almost with a cloak of secrecy? If this co-ordination is a prelude to the evolving of a policy, albeit within Government, I am interested to learn it has been set in motion. If this co-operation is to end within the Secretariat, I regret that it will not be more than a token gesture that recently Government has become alertly aware of its responsibility to Youth. To suggest that many Government departments are involved in youth work, is, of course, perfectly valid; but this need not dispense with the necessity for a declared policy. Even on this Council, there are areas of interest centred on young people, and if I ask for a policy, I am by no means unaware of the extraordinary and most commendable increase in the provision of facilities for our young. We have arranged in recent years many summer activities from swim-ins to pop-ins, we are about to launch our first Festival of Hong Kong which should gladden the hearts of millions, but all this, though excellent, is not enough. The young must be considered daily. We all know that half of our population is under 21.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
341
Let us look for a while at Medium Projection figures of the 1966 By-census. By 1971, we expect to have 235,700 boys in the 15-19 age group, and 216,500 girls in the same group. In the next age group of 20-24 there may be 206,300 young men and 183,500 young women; making a total of 842,000 in the 15-25 age group. By 1976 the overall figure may be 990,400 with a proportionate breakdown of the sexes. By 1981 the overall figure may be 1,077,400. If these figures have not reduced you to a state of giddiness let me add more than three quarters of a million in primary schools and perhaps the same number of half a million pre-school age.
I am perfectly aware that we must consider the moral, mental, cultural, physical and emotional developmental needs of these young people. For the majority, their parents are quite incapable (on economic grounds alone) of providing facilities; their employers will do little unless obliged by law to do more; unscrupulous and unfeeling dealers will exploit them in every possible way; and we as a community are placid in our smugness that we are doing enough.
I made no premises on my appointment but I do want to serve the youth of Hong Kong. While a Working Party deliberates, let more money be given to us on this Council to provide more educational, cultural and physical recreational facilities.
The size of the youth population is of tremendous importance because the onus is on Government to provide them with education and other facilities, to gauge the provision of jobs for them, and to remember that it would be calamitous to do insufficient for them; and morally wrong to wait until they pose a political threat and then "to rush in where angels fear to tread".
With these words, I beg to support the Motion. (Applause).
Page 183 of 237