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ephemeral and difficult, if initially successful, to maintain. The Philharmonic's General Committee hopes therefore that the government agencies will bear this in mind when considering the level of financial help to the orchestra. Orchestras must plan with confidence several years ahead. This is necessary to maintain the best flow of visiting artists without whose help the standard of playing would be difficult to maintain.
Local players and artists are constantly being encouraged to work with the orchestra, and we are mindful of the needs of mature local students who are being educated at the recently opened Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, as well as the artistic standard and requirements for the future, particularly with the opening of many new venues, culminating in the Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. The Society believes in the need for excellence, an excellence that can give to the people of Hong Kong not only an orchestra with aspirations of quality, but one that will serve the community as a whole and will give to this city a pride in its cultural achievements. Quality is expensive but the rewards we believe speak for themselves.
Sufficient financial backing must be found, advantages over the past decade not lost, and with the great efforts from all concerned we can take part in giving to Hong Kong a first-class cultural body that will be the pride of this city for many decades to come.
MR. L. H. KWAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, it is the main duty of the Urban Council to deal with the daily urban services problems thereby improve the urban environment. Most Council meetings are now open to the public and the press, so they can understand the contents of the meetings as well as the Council's daily routine. In addition to the full Council meeting held on the second Tuesday of each month, other committee and sub-committee meetings, except a few, are also open to the public. This is to let the public know the Council's scope of work and policies on matters such as street cleansing, supervision over the hygienic conditions of food premises, and management of facilities like markets, swimming pools, parks and playgrounds, etc., and also to promote public concern over urban problems, thus bringing forth suggestions on environmental improvement.
To meet the above purposes, the Urban Council has in fact spent much effort to open its meetings to the citizens and the press. However, with inadequate information, it is difficult for a citizen to check which meetings are open and which are not. Moreover, policy matters are always discussed and passed in committee meetings being held every morning. It is hoped that through this open annual debate, students of universities, secondary and post-secondary schools, as well as citizens concerned about urban policies can understand our way of discussion. And this, I believe, is the most practical way to do so.
The agenda of the Urban Council meetings are not made public. But the practice of the District Board is different. The agenda of DB meetings are made known to the public and the date, time, items of discussion are all posted on the DB notice boards for the residents' reference. I think the Council is not doing enough about publicity in this respect. To let the public know the contents and the subjects of discussion of our meetings beforehand, the Select Committee concerned should consider posting the agenda of the various committee meetings in the USD district offices, parks and playgrounds etc. particularly when matters concerning these UC facilities, for example, the increase of admission fees to swimming pools, the closing of certain complex for maintenance etc. are on the agenda. I think residents using those facilities will be interested and will attend the meeting. In fact, we should let the residents know that the ultimate aim of our discussions and actions is to improve their immediate interests.
Lastly, I hope both the English and Chinese versions of the agenda will be provided for the easy reference of the general public. In this way, their understanding of the Urban Council will be enhanced.
(Messrs. Peter C. K. CHAN and L. H. KWAN left the meeting at 4.30 p.m.)
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, it is a common objective to maintain the social stability and economic prosperity of Hong Kong. My speech today will be on this topic. First is the issue of constitutional changes and direct election.
(1) Constitutional changes and direct election
Hong Kong people are always sensible and pragmatic. In our joint efforts to maintain the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, we cannot allow unfavourable elements to appear. Whether direct election will affect stability and prosperity is precisely the point in question in the discussion of constitutional changes.
And it seems that people have overlooked a question: will partial introduction of direct elections help preserve the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong? I tend to believe in the affirmative.
Hong Kong being a pluralistic society, its economic achievement is a result of the concerted efforts of capitalists, professionals, workers and clerks alike. No one group of them contributes more or is more important than others. The interests of different sectors of society need to be catered to so as not to disturb the present equilibrium.
Up to now, the Hong Kong government has worked to coordinate the interests among different sectors and won the trust of them. When the British withdraw from Hong Kong in 1997, there will be no one to fill this role of a coordinator.
How Hong Kong's autonomous government is to be constituted will have important bearing on its future. There are not a few regions in the world where the practice of democracy has led to political chaos and social turmoil. On the other hand, some non-democratic countries are faced with problems such as
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