# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
# ADDRESS BY ACTING CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order. In the absence of the CUC, who is on a business trip to London, it is my pleasure to act as Chairman on your behalf. I hope you will not take too much advantage of my being relatively new to this position, and not ask too many ad hoc supplementaries in due course.
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autonomy on 1 April 1973, remains to be seen. I am confident our negotiating team will use every viable argument to get a practical and workable arrangement that will remove the financial cloud now hanging over our future, and similarly I am counting on the goodwill of the Government to make this possible.
Finally, my thanks to Mr. KWAN Lim-ho, who has agreed to act as an alternative member on behalf of the elected Councillors should the need arise.
(Dr. Ronald D. B. LEUNG arrived during the Chairman's address.)
# MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 1985, were confirmed.
# STATEMENT BY ACTING CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, CONCERNING THE WORKING PARTY OF FUTURE FINANCES OF THE URBAN COUNCIL (in English):-
I am happy to report that the Council is getting ahead quickly to join in talks with the Government on the future of the Council's finances. In choosing the composition of the Council's side, we have deliberately selected a small group of only three Councillors to take part in the talks, thereby aiming to put the emphasis on brevity of discussion and a positive approach.
Councillors Stephen LAU and Peter CHAN Chi-kwan were nominated respectively by the Appointed and Elected Councillors to take part in these important discussions, and as the Chairman of the Finance Committee it has inevitably fallen on me to lead our group. I heartily welcome my two co-workers, Mr. LAU and Mr. CHAN, and am sure that we will be of one mind in trying to prove to the Government that the present financial arrangements, drawn up in the early 70's, must be streamlined and updated to take into account the financial and political realities of the mid-80's, particularly as the Council's commitments have for some years exceeded its income.
We have so far managed to maintain and in some cases upgrade services, and to continue our capital works programme of building more facilities and amenities, solely by dipping into our reserves. But these reserves are shrinking fast, and it is only plain commonsense to act now before we find ourselves in the red, with no reserves but still with our commitment to the community to provide the services they expect and are entitled to.
Realizing our oncoming plight, our sometimes criticised Financial Secretary in fact turned a sympathetic ear to our expressions of concern, and suggested the setting up of a joint working party to thrash out what might be done. To what extent this will mean alteration to parts of the Memorandum of Administrative Arrangements, which has been the 'bible' governing the Council's relationships with the Government since the Council gained financial
# FAREWELL SPEECH BY ACTING CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, CONCERNING THE WORK OF TWO RETIRING MEMBERS NAMELY MR. KENNETH T. C. LO AND MR. SHUM CHOI-SANG (in English):---
Today I have the rather sad duty at their last public meeting to officially bid farewell to two stalwarts of the Council, Mr. Kenneth Lo and Mr. SHUM Choi-sang.
Kenneth Lo, in his 19 years on the Council, has given unstintingly of his time in many roles and on many select Committees and Sub-Committees. As far back as 1970 he was chairing the then Food and Food Premises Select Committee; later he served as chairman of the Cultural Affairs Select Committee, and then after the Council gained its new stature and financial autonomy in 1973, he moved into the chair on matters much closer to the sporting side of his nature, heading what was then the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee and what is now known, for the sake of simplicity, as the Recreation Select Committee a chairmanship he has most capably filled in the past dozen or so years.
Kenny Lo brought to the chair his invaluable know-how as a keen sportsman whether the proposal concerned sports fields, tennis courts, indoor games halls, swimming pools or whatever.
As a mark of his many services to the community, including his close personal interest in that most worthy of causes, the Cheshire Home, and his lengthy membership of the Hong Kong Housing Authority, Kenneth Lo was most worthily honoured with the award of an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1975.
Kenny, of course, has been for a great many years a cricketer with the KCC and it is with deep regret and I am sure I speak for all of us here when I say this—that he is drawing stumps, so to speak, after a splendid innings with this Council. I can do no more than repeat the cricketing phrase "Well played, sir.'
Although he is stepping down from the Council, Kenneth will not be forgotten, since the many sports and recreational facilities to be found on either