10
THURSDA
+
APRIL 18, 1985
+ THE OVERALL AVERAGE MONTHLY SALARY OF THESE GRADUATES IN THE IR FIRST EMPLOYMENT WAS 9.4 PER CENT MORE THAN THAT OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S GRADUATES, WHILE THE INFLATION RATE FOR THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 1984 WAS ONLY 7.1 PER CENT, HE SAID.
MR CHEN ALSO SAID DIRECTORSHIP OF THE POLYTECHNIC HAD BEEN ASSUMED BY DR JOHN LESLIE CLARK IN EARLY JANUARY THIS YEAR WHEN DR KEITH LEGG RETIRED ON COMPLETION OF NEARLY 10 YEARS' SERVICE AS DIRECTOR.
CONSUMER COUNCIL NOW +FIRMLY ESTABLISHED+
*****
THE CONSUMER COUNCIL, WHICH MARKED ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY IN APRIL 1984, HAD FIRMLY ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS THE CHAMPION OF CONSUMER RIGHTS, ITS CHAIRMAN, THE HON SELINA CHOW, SAID TODAY.
TABLING THE COUNCIL'S ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1983-84 AT THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, MRS CHOW ALSO SAID THAT THE COUNCIL HAD ALSO BECOME +A SOUND ADVISOR TO CONSUMER QUERIES.+
MRS CHOW SAID THAT IN THE 1983-84 YEAR, THERE WERE 9 600 COMPLAINT CASES, AGAINST 4 800 IN THE FIRST YEARS OF OPERATION. AND ENQUIRIES MÚLTIPLIED ALMOST TEN-FOLD OVER EIGHT YEARS, FROM ABOUT 6 000 IN 1976-77 TO NEARLY 60 000 IN 1983-84.
+THIS SUCCESSFUL LINK BETWEEN THE COUNCIL AND THE PUBLIC WILL BE BUILT ON AND FURTHER EXPANDED AS WE CONTINUE WITH OUR POLICY OF SETTING UP TWO DISTRICT ADVICE CENTRES EACH YEAR UNTIL EACH AND EVERY DISTRICT WILL HAVE A CENTRE OF ITS OWN. WE HAVE NOW 12 SUCH CENTRES, SHE SAID.
MRS CHOW PRAISED HER PREDECESSOR, MR GALLANT HO FOR HIS +EXTRAORDINARY GOOD SENSE AND DEDICATION+ IN STEERING THE COUNCIL TO ITS POSITION OF STRENGTH DURING HIS FOUR AND A HALF YEARS AS CHAIRMAN.
HE HAD IDENTIFIED THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM WHICH HAUNTED THE COUNCIL FOR MANY YEARS - THAT THE LONG DELAYS EXPERIENCED IN THE PASSING OF CONSUMER PROTECTION LEGISLATION COULD BEST BE RESOLVED BY THE APPOINTMENT OF A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TO THE CONSUMER COUNCIL.
THE DELAYS, SHE SAID, HAD UNDOUBTEDLY BEEN ONE OF THE MORE FRUSTRATING ASPECTS OF THE COUNCIL'S WORK.+
+FOR INSTANCE THE PROPOSAL TO ENACT THE HIRE PURCHASE ORDINANCE WAS INITIATED BY THE CONSUMER COUNCIL IN 1977.
/+A BILL.