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Wednesday, June 20, 1973
P.W.D. REJECTS ACCUSATIONS OVER LANDSLIDES
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The acting Director of Public Works, the Hon. A.S. Robertson, today
rejected outright accusations of alleged "procrastination" and "nonchalance"
on the part of the Public Works Department in connection with the situation
in the Mid-Levels area prior to last year's rainstorm disasters,
Speaking in the Legislative Council, Mr. Robertson expressed surprise
and disappointment at the accusations and noted that nothing to justify them
could be found in the report of the Commission of Inquiry which investigated
the tragedies.
"Similarly, the commission did not find any evidence for collusion and
made no reference even to the possibility of collusion," he said,
Mr. Robertson was replying to criticism from two Unofficial Members
during the adjournment
the Hon. Szeto Wai and the Hon. Mrs. Joyce Symons
debate on the commission's final report.
He said the two speakers may have been influenced in their comments
by the fact that no action, was taken, between August 1971 and February last
year, against the architect who had beer responsible for the deep slope cutting
behind inland lot 2260.
Mr. Robertson made it clear, however, that there was no time limit
on the consideration by the board of a disciplinary offence.
The maximum penalty for such an offence, he explained, was removal
of the offender from the register of authorised architects, and the architect
in question had done this himself in December 1972, before the commission
had completed its report.
"On the other .................