TNAG-1725-FCO40-2438-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 114

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 20 January 1988

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matter further, wider consultation will also be necessary. District boards may be consulted together with groups of a particular interest. These would include industrial groups, those concerned with travel and transport, including the airlines, sport and leisure. I have no doubt, Sir, that there would be wide-spread public interest in the matter also. Because of the need to give adequate notice, it is unlikely that any change could be introduced before 1989. But I would like to stress, Sir, that the Government has no preconceived views on this subject.

MR. EDWARD Ho: Sir, will Government inform this Council whether it has calculated the amount, in dollar terms, of savings in fuel oil if daylight saving time is adopted for the summer months?

CHIEF SECRETARY: Sir, it is extremely difficult to work out an exact figure for the saving produced in terms of fuel saving and so on. When summer time was introduced on the last occasion, we did make some assessment of the amount of saving of fuel oil. This was in 1973 and 1974. Our estimate was that there was a saving of around 1 per cent. During the 1979 oil crisis, daylight saving time was introduced as one of a package of measures to conserve oil supplies. The package as a whole is thought to have achieved a reduction in power consumption of about 5 per cent but it is not easy to single out the contribution made by daylight saving alone.

MR. NGAI (in Cantonese): Sir, I would like to know whether the Government has foreseen problems that workers and students will have when going to work or to school in the very early morning hours and as a result there may be accidents?

CHIEF SECRETARY: Sir, we have looked, in a preliminary way, at the effect that the introduction of daylight saving time would have on the early morning hours and for Members' interest I can give those details. For example, from May to September, first light would vary between 6.10 am and 6.45 am com- pared to the present situation when there would be first light at between 5.10 am and 5.45 am. The same sort of problems that we had on the last occasion when summer time was introduced on a permanent basis would not be so acute if it was brought in temporarily for just the summer months. But these are the factors which Government will take close account of when deciding to take matters further, Sir.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Sir, when will the preliminary assessment of public opinion be completed by CNTA? And, apart from the factor which has just been mentioned by the Chief Secretary, what other important factors would make Government decide to take the matter further?

CHIEF SECRETARY: Sir, I think that the preliminary assessment will take about another month and at the end of that period there will have to be another decision as to whether we are going to take matters further. There are a large