20
Wednesday, June 20, 1973
"On the other hand, any action, other than a disciplinary action,
against the architect clearly had to await the deliberations of the commission,"
he added.
While he shared Mr. Szeto's views on the need for government to tighten
up its controls in particular cases of proposed site formation works, Mr. Robertson
rejected suggestions that the Public Works Department had in the past been
"irresponsible" in accepting statements of authorised architects.
Authorised architects, he said, were a "privileged class" licensed
to practise their profession in Hong Kong.
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"Their responsibilities are clearly defined under the ordinance which
licenses them, and the whole system of government approvals to plans which the
government is under constant pressure to expedite and simplify will always
depend upon the authorised professional carrying his proper share of the burden
of responsibility," he stressed.
He added:
"We must trust our authorised architects, but I take the point
that we cannot trust all of them all of the time.
"This is where the government's responsibility lies to ensure that
authorised architects as a class are worthy of trust, and that they are generally
performing satisfactorily."
Mr. Robertson re-iterated that the landslides were not the result
of a deliberate land development policy designed to extract the maximum
revenue from land, or to develop hillsides beyond the point of safety.
While the science of soil mechanics was becoming increasingly precise,
the commission had observed that the soils in Hong Kong were not simple
homogeneous materials.
/This meant,