XN000022-1996-10-03 — Page 8

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Governor: I didn't think I had. Indeed some people say I didn't spend enough time talking about the Chief Executive. What I did was underline in two or three pellucid paragraphs, ways in which in general we would wish to assist the Chief Executive and to sketch out some of the issues which as it were will still be in the in-tray when the Chief Executive arrives in Government House or wherever he or she chooses to live and to take as a base. I think it's difficult for people to have it both ways, though I know they are keen to try. Some people have criticised us for not setting out a detailed programme for the future. If I'd done that people would have rightly accused me of being presumptuous and rightly accused me of trying to seize the ground which was rightly the ground of the Chief Executive. So I didn't do that. On the other hand I thought it was reasonable to sketch out some of the problem areas that did remain for the future and some of them people would be bound to say I should have tackled more energetically myself. I don't seek however to hobble the Chief Executive. I don't seek to constrain intellectually any of the choices that he will face or she will face. The Chief Executive Designate will be his own man or her own woman and I'm sure that they will do the job according to their own likes and their own instincts and their own principles as I've tried to do. I think that it always shows when people in public life behave in a way which is unnatural or isn't in line with what they're really like. If people don't like the way I do the job there not liking me, not just on the surface, but right the way down.

Mr James Tien: Governor, this does not mention a word about the huge workload this Council must shoulder in its final nine months of existence, yet the Chief Secretary says that the Government intends to submit about 80 to 90 bills to this Council along with more than 30 left over from last year. That's incredible. During all of the last Council session we only dealt with 65 such items. We are now likely to tackle double that number of laws between now and June 30, 1997. Some of these laws are vital to the transition and must be thoroughly scrutinised and should not be casually passed without forming a Bills Committee. In such a rushed schedule, how are we to ensure that those laws related to the transfer of sovereignty are properly dealt with before July 1. 1997?

I also find it ironic that in order to get the legislative business done in haste, that this Council may become a rubber-stamp, which is what you are against in principle.

Governor: Oh, I don't think there is any danger of this Council becoming a rubber- stamp. I mean if the honourable gentleman is making any offers, I'm quite prepared to do a deal but I would anticipate that we might have a bit of argument from time to time about some of the programme that we were putting forward. It is our job to put forward the legislation which we think is in Hong Kong's best interest and I hope that we can get a high proportion of it through the Legislative Council. It would be a very poor business if we told the honourable gentleman that we were going on a sort of permanent vacation for the next few months. We will put legislation forward and we will hope that it will be properly processed by the Legislative Council.