Page 12 of 107
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
THE VICE-CHAIRMAN seconded.
The question was put.
The Motion was carried.
THE CHAIRMAN moved the following resolution:
"That this Council accepts the Statement of Progress and Policy tabled today, and in particular endorses the summary of the Council's main aims for the year 1959-60 as set out in the final paragraph of the Statement."
He said: This is the second occasion on which such a statement has been tabled as a basis for what has come to be known as the Annual Conventional Debate.
I do not propose to speak on the motion at this meeting. On conclusion of the speeches of the unofficial members, it will be moved that the debate be adjourned to the next meeting, when the officials will reply to points raised in the debate.
THE VICE-CHAIRMAN seconded.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI:- Mr. Chairman, it is only right that I should start by saying how very much the Reform Club appreciates the vote of confidence that we received in the March elections, which reverses in exactly the same proportion the defeat that we suffered in 1957. I am going to take advantage of this success to say certain things about elections in Hong Kong which have needed to be said for a long time but which I felt previously might have been regarded simply as sour-grapes.
I am a firm believer in the principle of elected representation if only because there is absolutely no choice. The so-called benevolent autocracy or bureaucracy is but a high-faluting name for a police state and Hong Kong itself can well do with a very much greater measure of elected representation.
Having said these things let me however say in public what many of us have been saying in private for a long time. All is not well with elected representation in Hong Kong. Whilst I would not like to be taken as suggesting any candidate or election agent as such is guilty of improper conduct, the fact remains that often those who support a particular candidate or candidates, frequently for personal motives of their own, do not stop short at the porchway of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance. Do not think that I am trying to single out for attack certain persons supporting our opponents. I have every reason to think that even in the last elections some persons purporting to support the Reform Club, or at least one or more of the Club's candidates, were equally without regard to the provisions of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance.
Page 13 of 107 is not present, continuing to next paragraph.
Chief among the forms of offences that are committed is that of corrupt treating. I should like the public and particularly the voters to know to be treated to a meal with the object of securing their vote for a particular candidate or candidates is not only a clear corrupt practice, but also one for which they are equally criminally liable should they so partake of that meal knowing its purpose. I have had reported to me one case during the last elections of an office boy, being a member of the C.A.S., who was treated to lunch at one of the most expensive restaurants in Hong Kong, purportedly in the name of one of the candidates. A moment's thought should have convinced him that this was nothing but the most blatant bribery.
Having said that I and at least the majority of us on the Reform Club regard this sort of corrupt practice as endangering the whole principle of elected representation in Hong Kong, I want to go on to say that the present Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance is taken almost word for word from similar legislation in the United Kingdom and does not have any regard at all for local conditions and customs. As a result of a number of elections I have become convinced that the provision of a measure of entertainment and even of a light Chinese meal should be permitted at meetings which are held primarily to provide a platform for candidates to address a meeting. The average voter in Hong Kong does not expect just to come to a meeting and listen to a speaker and go away again. He expects something more, and would justifiably give you a punch on the nose if you suggested to him that the taking of a light meal after the meeting was a form for selling his vote.
Talking of vote selling, it came to my attention during the course of the elections that a sort of brokerage firm in vote purchasing was actually alleged to be in existence. I passed certain names on to the Police and as nothing has happened I trust that this allegation was found to be without substance.
A very serious temptation for candidates at elections is to over-expend above their lawfully allowed limit and suppress the fact, subsequently swearing a false declaration as to the amount that they have expended. Suggestions to this effect have been made to us by some of our closest supporters and I should be most surprised if we are unique in this respect. I have known supporters spend money on the election campaign without any authority whatsoever from the candidates or the election agents, and then be quite furious when informed that under no circumstances can their expenditure possibly be reimbursed to them. Sometimes too I find that candidates not fully acquainted with
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Page 12 of 107
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
THE VICE-CHAIRMAN seconded.
The question was put.
The Motion was carried.
THE CHAIRMAN moved the following resolution:
"That this Council accepts the Statement of Progress and Policy tabled today, and in particular endorses the summary of the Council's main aims for the year 1959-60 as set out in the final paragraph of the Statement."
He said: This is the second occasion on which such a statement has been tabled as a basis for what has come to be known as the Annual Conventional Debate.
I do not propose to speak on the motion at this meeting. On conclusion of the speeches of the unofficial members, it will be moved that the debate be adjourned to the next meeting, when the officials will reply to points raised in the debate.
THE VICE-CHAIRMAN seconded.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, it is only right that I should start by saying how very much the Reform Club appreciates the vote of confidence that we received in the March elections, which reverses in exactly the same proportion the defeat that we suffered in 1957. I am going to take advantage of this success to say certain things about elections in Hong Kong which have needed to be said for a long time but which I felt previously might have been regarded simply as sour-grapes.
I am a firm believer in the principle of elected representation if only because there is absolutely no choice. The so called benevolent autocracy or bureaucracy is but a high-faluting name for a police state and Hong Kong itself can well do with a very much greater measure of elected representation.
Having said these things let me however say in public what many of us have been saying in private for a long time. All is not well with elected representation in Hong Kong. Whilst I would not like to be taken as suggesting any candidate or election agent as such is guilty of improper conduct, the fact remains that often those who support a particular candidate or candidates, frequently for personal motives of their own, do not stop short at the porchway of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance. Do not think that I am trying to single out for attack certain persons supporting our opponents. I have every reason to think that even in the last elections some persons purporting
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
9
to support the Reform Club, or at least one or more of the Club's candidates, were equally without regard to the provisions of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance.
Chief among the forms of offences that are committed is that of corrupt treating. I should like the public and particularly the voters to know to be treated to a meal with the object of securing their vote for a particular candidate or candidates is not only a clear corrupt practice, but also one for which they are equally criminally liable should they so partake of that meal knowing its purpose. I have had reported to me one case during the last elections of an office boy, being a member of the C.A.S., who was treated to lunch at one of the most expensive restaurants in Hong Kong, purportedly in the name of one of the candidates. A moment's thought should have convinced him that this was nothing but the most blatant bribery.
Having said that I and at least the majority of us on the Reform Club regard this sort of corrupt practice as endangering the whole principle of elected representation in Hong Kong, I want to go on to say that the present Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance is taken almost word for word from similar legislation in the United Kingdom and does not have any regard at all for local conditions and customs. As a result of a number of elections I have become convinced that the provision of a measure of entertainment and even of a light Chinese meal should be permitted at meetings which are held primarily to provide a platform for candidates to address a meeting. The average voter in Hong Kong does not expect just to come to a meeting and listen to a speaker and go away again. He expects something more, and would justifiably give you a punch on the nose if you suggested to him that the taking of a light meal after the meeting was a form for selling his vote.
Talking of vote selling, it came to my attention during the course of the elections that a sort of brokerage firm in vote purchasing was actually alleged to be in existence. I passed certain names on to the Police and as nothing has happened I trust that this allegation was found to be without substance.
A very serious temptation for candidates at elections is to over- expend above their lawfully allowed limit and suppress the fact, sub- sequently swearing a false declaration as to the amount that they have expended. Suggestions to this effect have been made to us by some of our closest supporters and I should be most surprised if we are unique in this respect. I have known supporters spend money on the election campaign without any authority whatsoever from the candidates or the election agents, and then be quite furious when informed that under no circumstances can their expenditure possibly be reimbursed to them. Sometimes too I find that candidates not fully acquainted with
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