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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Ladies and gentlemen, it is just 4 o'clock and I will proceed with the business on the agenda.
## MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 9th September, 1975, confirmed.
## STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-In our initial period we concentrated on the Council's own working structure. It has performed well in consequence. It will still improve with the passage of time. It will also continue to change in form and responsibility as existing services expand and new interests emerge.
Now is the time for the Council to engage in a closer dialogue with the department to see how the two may work even better together to achieve the Council's aims.
We should try to understand how the department actually works. Do we know, for example, whether the existing headquarters comprising in the main of the management organization of the department is suited to our own requirements? And, whether the present regional and district structure is capable of implementing our policies effectively, with reasonable despatch and at no higher cost than can be justified?
Certainly, the department must be given full support. It needs trained manpower and other resources. It is expected to back up our committees by not only doing the work assigned to it but also reporting on the changing needs and expectations of the community, within the respective areas of responsibility of such committees. In this way, the committees would also be on sure ground when planning their activities. For, they would know then that such projects and programmes accorded with what the people wanted and were also within measure of the department's capacity to put into effect.
When reviewing our position at the end of the 1974-75 year, I asked all select committees to scrutinize our staff requirements and evaluate their performance. A half-year has passed. It is in the public interest for us to do so. The suggestion is put to you now that you
## HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
also follow through all your decisions to find out where warranted how they are interpreted for action on the ground and whether you in turn are fully briefed on the response they attract when in execution. Doing so would be an advantage to us when assessing the results, in order to plan our work properly.
In this connection, there is always the need to be on our guard against making snap judgments without an objective examination; also, we must eschew taking popular decisions not otherwise justified on their merits. Neither should we respond to the pressure of events unless it is in the general public interest to do so. The reaction of vested sectional interests should cause us to weigh what they want us to do against what the interest of the community as a whole requires of us, however unpopular it may be with the more vocal elements.
Without working methodically in this manner, the Council and the Department would not be pulling together no matter how great the goodwill and co-operation which might be maintained as is the case at present. And, we would not together achieve the best results in our common aim of serving the people by our combined effort. On the department's side, too, co-operation must be open and loyal, honest and competent. Indeed, the payment of "personal emoluments" now amounts to about 80% of the Council's expenditure; therefore, staff matters must loom large in our thinking. The Council should not be expected to retain staff who do not make the grade and fail to serve the people honestly and efficiently.
As population grows and the level of education rises, there will be a greater demand for the improvement of services in quantum and quality, no less so in Hong Kong than elsewhere. So, the Council should plan well ahead or risk letting the people down. But, before we can go forward with full confidence of success, we must see that the Department and the Council are marching in step. Thus, it must be our concern that we have well-qualified and hard-working staff giving the public good, honest and courteous service. Otherwise, let us have no doubt, all our ambitions to serve the community would not achieve the best possible results.
(Messrs. H. M. G. FORSGATE, B. A. BERNACCHI and Dr. P. C. WONG arrived during the Chairman's address.)
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