Page 33 of 120
35
34
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
welcome in consequence. They should not be alien to the community's own historical experience and must conform with its mores and customs to win full support and not be doomed to failure.
To break up the territory into constituencies is a material factor if the objective is to pass on authority and attract local people to public office. It is more likely to draw the support and participation of those who emerge through hard work and whose ability and dedication have won the confidence of their neighbours. Perhaps all candidates might be required to reside in their constituencies to know local needs at first-hand. They would then share a common experience of actual living conditions and would be exposed in turn to the ready recrimination of their neighbours if they failed to redress local grievances. The Government has to demonstrate that it is sincerely interested in finding tried-and-true community leaders in the districts. And, lest it be forgotten, the onus of proof of goodwill in a colonial setting is always with the public authorities. Their intentions are naturally suspect out of habit, whether fair or not.
For the Government, it is imperative to delegate authority progressively to the people in an affluent and enlightened society of proven ability. The principle of subsidiarity has to be practised in earnest. Prudence counsels the Government to stop arrogating to itself far more power than it is willing or capable of exercising effectively for the public good in a complicated situation. The masses here lose out by default, while the authorities are distracted by the few tilting at derelict windmills of foreign make. The proper delegation of powers over basic matters affecting daily living conditions has to continue positively. Shallow gestures fool nobody; their cosmetic effect wears off at once in a down-to-earth society that is not hoodwinked by inspired propaganda. Hong Kong does not stand still in the private sector. Can the public authorities expect to do so and get away with it out of time?
Nominal sovereignty can only be upheld with the consensus of the community at large. It is not likely to survive if it is propped up by traditionally self-motivated narrow sectional interests. Progress and stability can only be achieved by enlisting sincerely the co-operation of acknowledged community leaders in the direct management of public affairs, whether by invitation or election, direct or indirect. Indeed, the emergence of leadership by proven community service is the process of natural selection at work. This counteracts the sustained apathy and pointed indifference to foreign political concepts. It should be expected in a pre-eminently pragmatic society that it would be so. Selection must recognize constructive contributions to the common good by citizens with the requisite skills, the inclination to spare the time and also the ability to do sound work for the advancement of the people.
All the time, predominant geopolitical considerations cannot be disregarded. There are inherent constraints to political changes in a sensitive situation. Options are few. The ability to choose them is vicarious. The capacity to exercise them is also circumscribed. All the greater then is the need for good sense and sound management for a manifest public purpose. Is the present system able to cope with the shifting sands in the remaining years of the century?
PAPER
(Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG arrived during the Chairman's address.)
The following paper was laid on the table:-
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of June 1980.
QUESTION
1. DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question (in Cantonese):- I understand that the World Health Organization has declared that we have eradicated smallpox on earth and that the value of anti-cholera vaccination is very doubtful. As a result, no vaccination for smallpox or cholera are now needed for travelling purposes.
May I ask whether people working in restaurant kitchens in Hong Kong are still required to be vaccinated against cholera and/or smallpox and, if so, why?
MR. EDMUND W. H. CHOW, CHAIRMAN OF THE FOOD HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns immunization of employees of food premises against cholera and smallpox.
Formerly persons engaged in the food business were required to be inoculated against cholera, and vaccinated against smallpox under the Food Business By-laws, the Frozen Confections By-laws, and the Milk By-laws. However, the legal requirement for such persons to be inoculated against cholera was discontinued in January 1975. Likewise, the legal requirement for them to be vaccinated against smallpox was discontinued in July 1978.
The answer to Dr. HUANG's question is, therefore, no.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, in the reply by Mr. CHOW he said the employees in the food business would no longer need to be immunized under the law, but as a matter of fact I have asked staff of the U.S.D. who say they are still immunized. I wonder if the Select Committee understands that smallpox immunization is a little dangerous because it could in rare cases lead to death, so may be the Select Committee can stop the immunization against smallpox or even against cholera because the employees of the food business are used to such immunization and I think our Health Inspectors should explain to them that this is no longer necessary.
Page 33 of 120