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Before I conclude, I have to say that friendly atmosphere were not created by good fellowship among members alone. My very good friend Mr. Roy SPENCER, Secretary of the Council has also made his great contribution in seeing that we get all the information and facilities needed for the discharge of our duties. His loyalty and dedication to the Council, in my view, is absolutely unquestionable.
This year, my speech is a little longer than usual, it would be right to note that the translation team works many times harder than usual in order to get our speeches available in both languages. I would like to record my thanks to them and ask Mr. SPENCER to convey the message.
Mr. Chairman, with these words, I support the motion before Council.
MR. BERNACCHI (in English):—I stand up on a point of order or correction, let me remind my honourable friend that it is not the Higher Council, it is perhaps the other Council. (laughter)
MR. C. K. CHAN (in English):---I did use that from time to time.
MISS CECILIA L. Y. YEUNG (in Cantonese):---Mr. Chairman, I have served in the Urban Council for 4 consecutive terms and I am happy to say that I have learnt much from my senior colleagues. In the past 10 years or so, the Council is making steady progress, but in my opinion, it is still too conservative. I only hope that it will make bigger strides forward in the future. As indicated by its name, the Urban Council is responsible for all the urban services, but its scope is really very limited. It only looks after sanitation, culture, entertainment, recreation and amenity while the more important portfolios, such as education, transport, and housing, are not within its jurisdiction, much to our regret. The Urban Council is the first granted financial autonomy and given an assessed percentage of the rates, and is in a position to plan and decide on its budgets. In addition, it also collects licence fees and fines for contravention of its regulations as well as other charges. These may not amount to very much; nevertheless, it is an independent and financially autonomous policy council. Over the years, the Urban Council has never ceased to embark on capital works projects. The Urban Council has been working very hard in playing its role. In the coming 10 years, about 30 building projects will be implemented one after another, proving that the Council has ample resources at its disposal to pay for the amenity needs of a new Hong Kong. In 1973, the Council's Recreation & Sports Promotion Vote amounted to $200,000, but this year it is boosted to $9,000,000, an increase of almost 45-fold. I think this is not so simple, and we have been very successful in international sports competitions and I think we have reasons to be proud of. Our coliseum is the best of its kind in Southeast Asia, or even in the world. I believe we have done some good work although it is not appreciated by the government which not only refuses to extend more powers to the Council, but also cuts down the territory under the Council's jurisdiction. The Provisional Regional Council, formed in haste, will be established on 1st April this year. It is said the second council is formed in line with the new system of government and to provide services to those areas outside the ambit of the Urban Council. The charter of the Regional Council, however, is the same as that of the Urban Council. We know that resources could be saved by having a single council to provide similar services. What is more important, we have the experienced personnel who are able to handle the jobs with high efficiency. I think that the Regional Council is set up, it will take away some of our very experienced staff and we will have to train new staff again, so this is a loss to the Urban Council. The White Paper is now published and the die is cast and further argument would be futile. However, the new system of 'Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong' is coming into being and the views of the public are being sought, and if we do not put across our case with vigour, the Urban Council will sooner or later fade away. At present, the situation is quite different. The people of Hong Kong are taking part in the government and thus we are the insiders, not outsiders. We should not hold our peace. We must let the public know what is going to happen in future and Mr. Chairman, you have done a very good job in reporting to the public regularly but I hope that we will let the public know more about the Urban Council in future, so that they will have a better understanding. The District Offices have been commending the work of the district boards, but I hope that it will do the same to the Urban Council. If we once more retreat and be tolerant, the Urban Council will revert to its former status of being a Sanitary Board. Although there are no statutory provisions to define the relationship between the District Boards and the Urban Services Department, they are in fact working closely with each other. Under the District Boards, there are the Environment Sub-Committee and Community Building Sub-Committee which are closely connected with the work of the Urban Council and each may replace the other. But, of course, cooperation would be better. The Urban Council is a time-honoured institution, and I think the district boards will also admit that they are still inexperienced and that there should be more cooperation between the Urban Council and the district boards. The district board is closer to the public and it is a very efficient consultative body. But the Urban Councillors are also playing very important role in the district boards, because every one of us here are participating in the meetings of the district boards. We accept the district boards, but we do not know whether the district boards accept us and I am in doubt of this. Recently in Wong Tai Sin, where we are serving as district board members, I discovered that in the photo of the district board members of Wong Tai Sin, the Urban Councillors were not included. I hope that there will be better cooperation between the Urban Council and district boards, I hope that district boards will understand that there should be a very close link between the 2 bodies, because I really do not know what my position is in the Wong Tai Sin District Board and I think it is most regrettable. I hope that other district boards will also admit one fact, i.e. Urban Councillors are also district board members. I would like to thank Mr. Chairman for giving me a lot of instructions while I serve as a Chairman of the District Relations Select Committee of the Council, but I still think that we need to strengthen the liaison between the
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