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obvious solution is to pass that responsibility to us and the USD. After all, the Harbour is very much in the middle of the urban area for which we have responsibility and the state of it is an eyesore, and although we are not mariners and use mostly wheels, we do have a few boats, we do barge some of our garbage, and I am sure if we are given reasonable funds and the proper tools, we could learn very quickly how to clean the Harbour. And we would have far better motivation than the Marine Department to keep the Harbour clean. I have suggested this many times before. It is the only real first step to a solution of this particular part of the Keep Hong Kong Clean problem, so why won't Government let us take that first step?
I mentioned when seconding the Urban Council budget that Government, in its wisdom, has decided to enlarge this Council by 10 indirectly elected District Board members, one result of which is this altered chamber we are now attending. Another is quite a considerable increase in our expenses, and I made the point that I hoped that this particular expense, which will run into millions of dollars, will be cost effective. We all know that the way Government originally constructed the District Boards was bound to lead to conflict between this Council and urban District Boards, especially in view of the fact that the District Boards were non-executive talking shops while we are basically an executive committee dealing with some very down to earth and practical methods of running this town. In principle the ten joining District Board members will not make any difference to this problem. While we in this Council will always have to consider the whole of the City, they will be representing their own individual districts, duplicating, in fact, what our elected Councillors are already doing. One hopes when they join they will very quickly realize the essential differences between this Council and their District Boards, and that they will get down to the sort of efficient nitty gritty type of committee meeting we are used to where politics, and especially the divisive and unpleasant politics one gets in the District Boards, is left outside the door and only the practical aspects count. Politics is, in fact, reserved for our open meetings where these new members will be welcome to sound off and bring the conflict between the Urban Council and District Boards into the open. Whether that will in fact make any difference to the policies of the Urban Council remains to be seen.
In one way, Government's action is politically sensible. It means that the progression from local Government into Central Government via a District Board member first elected into Municipal Council and then having the chance of being possibly elected from the Municipal Council into the Legislative Council is logical, and, in fact, will in the end give us a far more representative Legislative Council when we get directly elected members instead of members elected by small parochial District Boards. But basically the dichotomy between the advisory District Boards and the executive Urban and Regional Councils will really only be tackled by making the District Boards an actual part of the Municipal Councils so that the line of command will run through the Municipal Councils rather than through the CNTA. This would also enable the
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Municipal Councils to devolve some of their district policy making onto the District Boards. This would mean that the District Boards could still be used as advisory sounding boards for the Government on tricky bits of policy like Vietnamese refugees, the loitering laws, etc. which are outside the ambit of the Municipal Councils, but they would also have a real executive function with some devolvement of power downwards from the Municipal Councils and they would then know exactly where they stand in relation to local Government. If this were done a great deal of the present conflicts between the Municipal Councils and District Boards would very rapidly disappear. There would still be the competition between districts for national facilities, but the giving of executive powers to District Boards devolved from this Council would involve them into nitty gritty of local Government and would give them a far better understanding of what the Municipal Councils have to do, especially when it comes to spending ratepayers money.
You will remember that I proposed some years ago in an Annual Debate to short circuit Government by giving a certain sum of money from our budget to the District Boards for their own activities. We could still do this. We could quite easily set aside something like HK$200 million and give each urban District Board HK$20 million to spend on cleaning and greening their District and to spend on their own cultural and sports activities. But the suggestion I am now making goes much further. I advocate a thorough going reorganisation in the Civil Service, the dissolution of CNTA, the taking over of all district activities by USD and RSD, and the Municipal Councils assuming full responsibility for the District Boards. Although this may sound radical, it is, in fact, a logical extension of Government's view of the District Boards in indirectly electing District Board members to this Council. It would, incidentally, also save the tax payer a great deal of money by eliminating an overstaffed and, in many ways, quite unnecessary Government Department now duplicating a great deal of what our staff already does. If carried out it would also enable the public to finally get their hands on the Transport Department. As we all know, if we listen to radio talk shows or see the readers' letters in the newspapers, transport in this Territory is a very sore subject. The only time District Boards really get excited is when they talk about the transport situation and especially the public transport situation in their districts. But in this supposedly free society all the public is free to do is to scream at the top of their voice. But the Transport Department does not listen and does its own thing regardless. It is time and Transport Department becomes fully answerable to the public by, as everywhere else in the world, becoming part and parcel of the Municipal Councils. They would thus become very much more responsive to public pressure and public suggestions which would improve our transport situation no end by doing away with inflexible over regulation, needless traffic lights, instituting a sensible parking policy, etc. etc..
Mr. Chairman, I hope you will bring these suggestions to the notice of the Chief Secretary for prompt action!