HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL · 1st October 1971.
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Increased leisure has also enabled many city people to get out into the New Territories to the hills and islands where solitude and natural beauty can still be found. The countryside and its people may be new to many town dwellers but they are old in the history of Hong Kong and are a part of the fabric of our community. The new satellite towns at Tsuen Wan, Castle Peak and Sha Tin are on the move and Tsuen Wan alone is now a town of a quarter of a million people. Rapid growth is also to be seen in the market towns of Yuen Long, Tai Po, Shek Wu Hui and Luen Wo Hui where tall modern buildings are now to be found. In the press of events in post war years, the development of many other smaller towns and villages has not, perhaps, progressed so well, and in many areas we have pollution problems, but I hope that we can now spare resources to bring improved public services to more rural communities both new and old so that they become better places to live in.
As regards the future of the Urban Council I do not propose to say anything in detail today. However, certain conclusions have been reached on the future composition and financial arrangements of the Urban Council, and Government will be publishing a statement on these in the form of a White Paper to be tabled in this Council within the next two weeks.
A constitution such as ours, depending as it inevitably must on consensus rather than party political views, has, as a matter of plain commonsense, to be as sensitive as possible to the state of public opinion. Of course, being sensitive to public opinion does not always necessarily mean following it-any responsible Government must some- times, in the broader public interest, decline to follow courses which are popularly advocated. But it has always been our aim to be fully aware of opinion, and to open up useful channels for exchanges of opinion.
Honourable Members, I know, attach importance to this aim also, and this is reflected by the manner in which the UMELCO Office is developing. A unique organization has been set up here for the investigation of public sources of complaint, as well as the handling of representations on matters of general public concern, and I should like to record my own view that the UMELCO Office, as now organized, is not only providings a most useful service in this manner but is providing a valuable means of keeping in touch with public opinion in addition to those channels which were previously available. It is certainly contri- buting constructively to the formulation of many facets of Government policy.
Another recent innovation partly in pursuit of the same aims has been the introduction of the urban District Officer system. The City District Officers are now handling something like one million individual cases and enquiries a year and, although the scheme is still young, and
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.