XN000022-1995-03-06 — Page 8

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Governor: I'd like to see more treatment facilities in Hong Kong and that's one of the things we've proposed in the Forward Action Plan. But I also want to try to ensure that the sorts of treatment and rehabilitation that we apply are the ones that are most likely to work, are the ones that are most likely to be effective. And I think that several of the speakers when they were talking about the importance of looking searchingly at what we do, were focusing particularly on that issue.

Question: The Democratic Party got most of the seats and Elsie Tu an experienced politician lost her seat and Szeto Wah who was named by the Chinese side as counter-revolutionary got the seat. So what's your comment?

Governor: I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on the outcome of the elections but as for the process of the elections, I think they went extremely successfully. We had a record voter registration, we had a record number of candidates and we had the largest number of people ever voting in the Municipal Council Elections. It was just another example of Hong Kong's maturing as a community and I'm sure that the two Municipal Councils will work very effectively in the interests of the whole community. I'm sure that people will have noticed that those who were going out to vote yesterday were keeping a very close eye on local affairs and I'm sure will keep a very close eye on those that they have elected and that is one of the important reasons for accountability in representative government.

Okay. Thank you very much.

End/Monday, March 6, 1995

Governor's opening statement at drugs summit meeting

Following is the opening statement by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, at the Governor's Summit Meeting on Drugs today (Monday):

Good Afternoon,

I'd like to welcome all of you very warmly to this Summit Meeting on Drugs this afternoon.