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Friday, July 28, 1972
USE OF CANTONESE IN OPEN URBAN COUNCIL MEETINGS
A bill is to be introduced into the Legislative Council next week that
will pave the way for the use of Cantonese as well as English at open meetings
of the Urban Council.
The Urban Council Amendment Bill 1972 proposes to repeal a section
of the Urban Council Ordinance which requires proceedings of the Council to
be conducted in English.
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It also proposes to repeal and to re-enact in part another section of the same ordinance to allow minutes of the proceedings to be kept in accordance
with the Standing Orders of the Council.
Commenting on the bill, a government spokesman said that this follows the acceptance by the government of the recommendations of the first report of the Chinese Language Committee. This report dealt with the use of Cantonese
in the Legislative and Urban Councils and government boards and committees.
If the bill is approved, the languages spoken at open meetings of the
Urban Council will no longer be regulated by the Urban Council Ordinance.
regulations will be affected by the Council's Standing Orders.
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This means", the spokesman said, "the Urban Council will change its
Standing Orders as soon as a simultaneous interpretation system is available
to allow the use of Cantonese in its open meetings.
The use of the Standing Orders for this purpose will bring the Urban
Council into line with the Legislative Council.
A meeting of the Legislative Council in November last year passed a resolution amending its Standing Order to allow members to address the Council
in either English or Cantonese.
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