XN000022-1995-06-01 — Page 18

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Because of the fact that doctors also belong to the public service and because of the fact that a lot of doctors, basically, are employees for example they are employees of the Hospital Authority - a lot of them are therefore listed for one reason or another into the ninth new functional constituency. The result is that even up to a few weeks ago there were still some 4,000 registered doctors and dentists who were not yet registered. I wonder if the Governor would consider looking at this and extend the date of registration so that some of these could be ironed out. On my part we have been sending out letters to them to clarify the matter and I think Government has done the same thing, but still there is a lot of confusion.

Governor: Despite that, I know that the Honourable Member will be pleased that the registration in a constituency whose perceptiveness and wisdom in electoral matters I'm sure the Honourable Member would endorse, that registration in that constituency is up by about ten per cent in the overall figure, from last time. Where members of a profession or another group could vote in more than one functional constituency, the Honourable Member knows the arrangements which are open to them. It may be that we need to look at those arrangements anew after this election and try to make them even more user or voter friendly. But I think there are quite strong arguments against extending the registration period beyond June 1 because we are only a couple of months away

yes, a couple of months away from nominations opening for the LegCo Elections and I think that people, frankly, will want to get on with the job of preparing for those elections without having a longer period for registration. But we may need to look at the arrangements for the future.

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Dr C H Leong: Thank you Mr President. I would just like to remind the Governor that ten per cent is a very small number in my constituency simply because of the fact that there has been a lot of new graduates since the last registration. After all, there was no voting in 1991.

Governor: That is perfectly true, though I doubt whether there are many, except the very brightest of the Honourable Member's constituents, who have come on to the Register as doctors because of our reduction in the voting age from 21 to 18. But we will certainly look at the points that the Honourable Member made.

Mr Roger Luk: Thank you Mr President. My question is on employment. Governor, the focus of retraining has been on assisting displaced manufacturing workers to take up employment in the service sector. But with the recent developments in the service sector, in particular the closure of major hotels and department stores, will the Government review the retraining policy in this light?