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charged by them are equal to, if not higher than, in restaurants nearby. There may be arguments from some sources that how we can set two standards, one for restaurants and one for the streetside cooked food stalls. To me, this seems to be a question of co-operation. Common sense as well as commercial sense should dictate.
With these words, I support the motion before Council.
(Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG left the meeting at this point)
MR. CHAN CHI-KWAN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, for purely personal reasons, I am not going to deliver a speech today, but I wish to be recorded that I do support the motion before the Council.
MR. JOHN MACKENZIE (in English):-Mr. Chairman, it is late, and enough has already been said for one day. Furthermore, the Administration Select Committee is now producing its Interim Review of the year. For these reasons, I am presenting no formal report but will restrict myself to some brief and general observations on Committee affairs.
I believe that Administration Select Committee is maintaining the momentum of progress which has marked the Council's activities in recent years.
Our interest in, and scrutiny of, USD establishment, recruitment, organization and training has never been keener; and we look for further improvement in our public information services before the end of the year. For a great deal on the time-consuming work of the Committee we are indebted to our Establishment, Public Relations, Street Names and Advertisements Sub-Committees.
Despite the progress, we can still see areas of administrative deficiency and need.
I believe there is need to avoid further, over-rapid expansion which is already taxing the management capacity of the department. Where costs are met from the public purse, there also appears to be a lavishness of approach to organization and staffing, and a diminishing of productivity, which is difficult to overcome.
My observation on establishment and expansion, generally, is that there must be greater in-depth study of needs and priorities, that departmental costings on staffing proposals must be comprehensive in that they provide full information on rent and other factors, as well as salaries. This has not always been evident in the past.
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In the field of public information, we are agreed on the need for a relatively small expansion in our P.R. Section, under a Chief Information Officer. The proposal appears to have become unnecessarily confused with the promotion, design and production needs of the Cultural Services division. This seems a pity as we have been talking about P.R. Section re-organization since early 1976. I hope that the department will now pursue recruitment in this area with a greater degree of determination.
One strange administrative development during the year is the virtual veto which has been placed by the Government Secretariat on further action on the Council's draft legislation on advertisements. The question of licensing control of overhead neon advertising signs has been in and out of Council discussion for more years than I have been a Member. Draft legislation was completed in 1975, after consultation with no less than 10 Government Departments. In the meanwhile, the proliferation of these signs has caused growing concern on environmental and fire-hazard grounds. Suddenly, we are informed that there has been a change of heart, that the necessary co-operation of the Public Works and Fire Services Departments will not be available. The scheme is again back in limbo.
During this year the Fire Services had difficulty in dealing with a building fire because of obstruction by such signs. Luckily, we have been spared any serious typhoons in recent years; but a day of reckoning may soon come.
The Council has made it very clear to Government that theirs is the responsibility for any damage or consequences which may arise because of the lack of adequate controls on overhead advertising signs.
Significantly, also, we have received no adequate reason from Government for the sudden reversal of attitude in this matter.
The "momentum of progress", of which I have spoken, has brought its own pressures and problems. Since we obtained autonomy the workload within our Council Secretariat--and on our Members has increased three-fold. The Council's ambitions, as well as its activities, have expanded hugely. Our demands for positive and prompt response from the department have created strain in various sections.
Partly for these reasons, and partly in anticipation of new services which may be needed in the continuing evolution of the Council, I am glad that the Standing Committee has agreed to a consultancy survey of the Secretariat with a view to strengthening and improving its structure and procedures. This will begin in the new year.
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