HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Recently there have been some criticisms in the press concerning increased library charges. My Committee is having another look to see if these criticisms are justified. We welcome criticisms from Councillors and members of the public, as it is by these criticisms that we can improve these aspects of our services which may have escaped our notice. In making such criticisms, I should like to urge members of the public to bear in mind that the aim should be to discourage library users from abusing the services we offer by causing inconvenience to other users, and to charge for extra services beyond those provided free of charge for the public at large.
One aspect of our library services that causes me concern is the slowness of the Government in matters of salary for our library staff. Library staff have unusual working hours and usually have to forego public holidays. Unless these sacrifices are recognized in special salary scales and allowances, we are going to find difficulty in recruiting staff: this could seriously affect our library programme. I hope that the shabby terms of service offered will not mar our service to the public, yet human nature is such that discontent with the terms of service of our staff could rub off on to the public: I hope this is a result that we can avoid. I would urge the Colonial Secretariat to end the years of delay, so that we may expend our energies on providing the maximum service to the public.
Another aspect of our work in libraries requiring attention is the future training of staff to meet the needs of an expanded service. This matter is being looked into, but again, speed in correcting the terms of service will influence our ability to find the staff to train. The picture is bright for our libraries—the only cloud on the horizon being this salary problem.
Chinese New Year has just passed, and I believe it is on everyone’s mind that there could be serious financial and economic problems in the coming year. The Government would do well to stop painting rosy pictures and get down to planning in case the worst should come. One has only to mention the catastrophic collapse of the booming stock market last year to realize that all warnings sounded by the public about the madness that swept the Colony before the collapse were ignored, until it was too late for the Government to do anything except take measures that merely precipitated the collapse. This inflation we are now experiencing cannot go on forever without creating economic hardship and unrest. Business can often recoup its losses by raising prices and cutting down on staff and workers, but it is up to the Government to ensure that those at the bottom of the scale, the workers, are taken care of. Many are losing their livelihood at this present time, and I am getting rather tired of the latest song of some Government officials that the unemployed should go for public assistance.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 161 of 212
For one thing, do these officials know that Chinese people, if they are able-bodied (and sometimes even when they are not able-bodied) would prefer to work for their living, and will never be content with a bowl of rice handed out to them free? Do these officials know that public assistance does not provide the things a human being needs if he is to be prevented from becoming a social problem? Do they not know that the Social Welfare Department is so understaffed that a family in dire need may have to wait weeks or even months for assistance? And, more important, do these officials not realize what they are doing to our community by advising workers to live on charity? Do they really want our people to learn to live without working?
In Hong Kong, the poor man’s refuge from economic stress or under-employment is small business, i.e. shopkeeping or hawking. I would be one of the first to discourage the proliferation of small business at times when there is ample employment at reasonable wages. But at times when there is special need, and I believe that time exists now, surely we can stop hounding these small traders into the courts, and instead offer them temporary empty spaces where they can trade from barrows or baskets and earn a few dollars, with or without a licence? Mark you, I am not suggesting that I want to allow all public roads, streets and pavements to be occupied by illegal hawkers. I am merely suggesting that there are areas temporarily not in use that could be used as temporary bazaars or poor men’s nightclubs for those who cannot go by car to clubs and restaurants. For example, there is one such space at the Kwun Tong Ferry, and I am sure there are others if we want to find them.
What I deplore is the amount of time spent driving genuine pedlar hawkers from their old trading sites on housing estates, and having them arrested and their goods confiscated when they spill out into the streets surrounding the estates. At a time when crime on estates is rampant, and Triad gangs extort and intimidate, I am surprised that the Police have time to spend on preventing genuine hawkers from making a living. I am also angry that genuine hawkers have in many cases been deprived of legal hawking sites through co-operation between triads and officials who sell the sites that rightly belong to the dispossessed hawkers.
Which leads me back to my old theme of corruption.
The new anti-corruption body begins its work this month. I wonder if it is going to concentrate on the small official who takes a