1964-11-18 — Page 1

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 387

OFFICIAL REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS

Meeting of 18th November 1964

PRESENT:

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR (PRESIDENT)

SIR DAVID CLIVE CROSBIE TRENCH, KCMG, MC

HIS EXCELLENCY LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR DENIS STUART SCOTT O’CONNOR, KBE, CB

COMMANDER BRITISH FORCES

THE HONOURABLE EDMUND BRINSLEY TEESDALE, CMG, MC

COLONIAL SECRETARY

THE HONOURABLE MAURICE HEENAN, QC

ATTORNEY GENERAL

THEHONOURABLE JOHN CRICHTON MCDOUALL

SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS

THE HONOURABLE JOHN JAMES COWPERTHWAITE, CMG, OBE FINANCIAL SECRETARY

THEHONOURABLE KENNETH STRATHMORE KINGHORN

DIRECTOR OF URBAN SERVICES

THE HONOURABLE ALEC MICHAEL JOHN WRIGHT

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS

THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM DAVID GREGG

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

THE HONOURABLE PATRICK CARDINALL MASON SEDGWICK

COMMISSIONER OF LABOUR

THE HONOURABLE DAVID RONALD HOLMES, CBE, MC, ED

DIRECTOR OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

THE HONOURABLE JAMES TINKER WAKEFIELD

DISTRICT COMMISSIONER, NEW TERRITORIES

THE HONOURABLE DHUN JEHANGIR RUTTONJEE, CBE

THE HONOURABLE RICHARD CHARLES LEE, CBE

THE HONOURABLE KWAN CHO-YIU, OBE

THE HONOURABLE KAN YUET-KEUNG, OBE

THE HONOURABLE SIDNEY SAMUEL GORDON

THE HONOURABLE LI FOOK-SHU, OBE

THE HONOURABLE FUNG HON-CHU

THE HONOURABLE TSE YU-CHUEN, OBE

THE HONOURABLE KENNETH ALBERT WATSON, OBE

THE HONOURABLE WOO PAK-CHUEN, OBE

THE HONOURABLE GEORGE RONALD ROSS

THE HONOURABLE SZETO WAI

MR ANDREW MCDONALD CHAPMAN (Deputy Clerk of Councils)

ABSENT:

DR THE HONOURABLE TENG PIN-HUI, OBE

DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES

THE HONOURABLE FUNG PING-FAN, OBE

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 388

MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 4th November 1964, were confirmed.

PAPERS

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by Command of His Excellency the Governor, laid upon the table the following papers: —

Subject LN No

Sessional Paper, 1964: —

No 43—Annual Report by the District Commissioner,

New Territories for the year 1963-64.

No 44—Annual Report by the Director of Broadcasting

for the year 1963-64.

Report of the Working Committee on Productivity.

Registration of Persons Ordinance, 1960.

Registration of Persons (Re-registration) (No 39) Order, 1964 162

Registration of Persons Ordinance, 1960.

Registration of Persons (Cancellation of Registration and

Identity Cards) (No 16) Order, 1964 ...................................... 163

Registration of Persons Ordinance, 1960.

Registration of Persons (Re-registration) (No 40) Order, 1964 164

Registration of Persons Ordinance, 1960.

Registration of Persons (Cancellation of Registration and

Identity Cards) (No 17) Order, 1964 ...................................... 165

He said: Sir, included in these papers is a Report of the Working Committee on Productivity. I will ask my honourable Friend the Commissioner of Labour who was Chairman of this Committee to make a statement on this Report.

MR P. C. M. SEDGWICK: —Sir, the Working Committee on Productivity was appointed by His Excellency Sir Robert BLACK on the 4th March 1963, to examine industrial productivity in Hong Kong and to advise on the measures which might be necessary to assist industry to attain greater productivity. It consisted of representatives of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the Management Association and the University of Hong Kong as well as officers

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 389

of a number of Government departments concerned with productivity problems.

The Committee, after long deliberation and wide consultation, was convinced that an ambitious and continuing programme of productivity promotion was needed in Hong Kong if Hong Kong's industry on which the economic future of the Colony depends so heavily was to remain competitive in the international field. Whilst paying tribute to the work of a number of existing institutions in Hong Kong which are at present engaged in many aspects of productivity activity, the Committee came to the firm conclusion that the magnitude of the task which confronted the Colony if industrial productivity is to be increased required a new organization, which would supplement and co ordinate the work which is at present being carried out. The Report therefore recommends the establishment of a Productivity Council and a Productivity Centre in Hong Kong as a means to this end.

The Productivity Council recommended by the Committee is eventually to be a statutory body with equal representation of official and unofficial members under an official chairman. On the unofficial side the interests of management and labour are to be closely balanced and the Council is to include representatives of academic and professional interests. It is to be a general advisory and policy making body overseeing by means of an executive committee the operation of an autonomous Productivity Centre. The centre itself is to be headed by an executive director whose recruitment and appointment will be the responsibility of the Productivity Council.

The Centre when fully developed will include a training section to deal both with the direct training of individuals and with the training of trainers, consultants and specialists. Its functional section will engage in management consultation and technical assistance to industry generally and will also run a small industries service. On the administrative side the centre will maintain contact with international organizations, will provide liaison between local organizations engaged in productivity promotion and will publicize the need for increased productivity. A research section will deal with statistics, technical information and translation work and will also supply a specialist library service.

In framing its proposals the Committee has taken special care to avoid financially extravagant proposals and has endeavoured to relate its recommendations to what it considers to be the special needs of Hong Kong. Even so the cost of the centre proposed is estimated to be in the region of twelve and a half million dollars spread over the first five years. Charges will be levied for the Centre's services and although the resultant revenue will increase annually as these services are developed and as they become more widely used, it is unlikely in

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the light of experience elsewhere that the centre will ever become fully self supporting.

The Report is a document of considerable significance to the future economic well-being of Hong Kong. To quote its last paragraph "Only by increasing production and lowering production costs through the effective and scientific-utilization of manpower and material resources will Hong Kong be able to expand its markets, increase employment and raise the standard of living of its people. To do otherwise, to stand still or to progress with insufficient speed will inevitably lead to Hong Kong becoming non-competitive and to the loss of markets now enjoyed by its export trade. While there appears to be no alternative but for Hong Kong to continue to live on its export trade, the raising of productivity is imperative."

Government has accepted the Report in principle and the Finance Committee of this Council has approved the financial commitments arising out of its recommendations. Steps will now be taken in accordance with these recommendations to establish, administratively at first, a provisional Productivity Council which will be superseded by a statutory Council as soon as the necessary enabling ordinance can be drafted and to recruit an Executive Director to head the Productivity Centre.

SOCIETIES (AMENDMENT) (NO 2) BILL, 1964

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL moved the First Reading of a Bill intituled "An Ordinance further to amend the Societies Ordinance."

He said: Your Excellency, determined and continuous action by the Police Force during the past 10 years has to a very large extent contained the Triad menace, with the result that many former Triad Societies have dissolved into small individual gangs without central control and owing allegiance only to themselves. Whilst the success of the Police efforts in this field, where the determination of the Police Force has been matched only by the ruthlessness of those against whom its energies have been directed, is a cause for some satisfaction, one of the consequences of the fragmentation of many Triad societies has been the great decrease in regular initiation and promotion ceremonies that form so important a part of organized Triad activity. Thus, the ritual which is the hallmark of the Triad Society has largely disappeared. The main reasons for this are not hard to find—ignorance of the correct ritual due to the loss of experienced leaders and fear of Police action.

The Triad menace is reduced, but the influence of the name Triad, and the fear with which Triad societies have always been regarded by the general public, persist and will continue to persist until the ordinary citizen is fully confident that he can no longer be harmed, in his person

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 391

or property or business, by the Triads. There are some signs that this confidence is beginning to grow in the wake of the continued successful Police action, but progress is slow. In the meantime, the many criminal gangs that have emerged following the fragmentation of the Triad Societies are trading on the name Triad and the fear that it instils so that Triad influence still remains strong, though on a reduced scale. By trading on the name Triad I mean that leaders and members of these gangs frequently claim allegiance to a dormant Triad society and in this way keep alive the name and influence of that Society.

The Societies Ordinance defines a Triad Society as a society which uses any Triad ritual and provides for the punishment of members and office-bearers of such societies. This means that, though the activities of these criminal gangs, insofar as they rely on the dread induced by the name Triad, are no less detrimental than the activities of the Triad societies from which they spring, the members of the gangs and the leaders frequently escape prosecution under those provisions of the Ordinance intended to deal with organized and active Triad societies. This is hampering Police action, which is the more serious because many of the juvenile gangs whose criminal activities are causing so much concern just now are of a Triad type.

Sir, if it is enacted, the effect of this Bill will be that the Police Force will be able to proceed against members and leaders of these new Triad type criminal gangs as if they were in fact members or office-bearers of an active Triad society.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

The Bill was read a First time.

Objects and Reasons.

The "Objects and Reasons" for the Bill were stated as follows: —

Continued police pressure against Triad Societies has greatly reduced the activities of those societies especially in relation to the number of initiation and promotion ceremonies conducted. However there is now indisputable evidence of a growing tendency on the part of members of other kinds of dubious associations, especially juvenile gangs, to hold themselves out as belonging to Triad Societies by adopting triad titles and claiming triad membership. The purpose of this Bill is to seek amendment of the relevant provisions of the Societies Ordinance, namely sections 9, 10 and 11, to prevent this evil.

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ROAD TRAFFIC (AMENDMENT) (NO 2) BILL, 1964

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL moved the Second Reading of a Bill intituled “An Ordinance further to amend the Road Traffic Ordinance, 1957.”

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

The Bill was read a Second time.

Council then went into Committee to consider the Bill clause by clause. Clauses 1 and 2 were agreed to.

Council then resumed.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL reported that the Bill before Council had passed through Committee without amendment and moved the Third reading.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

Te Bill was read a Third time and passed into law.

ADJOURNMENT

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR: —That concludes the business for today, gentlemen. When is it your pleasure that we should meet again?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: —May I suggest this day fortnight, Sir.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR: —Council stands adjourned until this day fortnight.

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