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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

I have noticed recently that with the great increase in the number of Unofficial Select Committee Chairmen, which means that much of the executive work of the Council is in fact presided over by Unofficial Members, the Chairman has less and less frequently referred Questions asked in Council to the responsible Select Committee Chairman. Instead, an answer has been given, based no doubt on the relevant files available in the Urban Services Department, but wholly without consultation with either the Chairman of the Select Committee or the Select Committee itself. A particularly unfortunate example of this occurred at the last Meeting when a Question was asked concerning airconditioning. As I have myself presided over the Airconditioning Select Committee throughout the whole of its existence and, with the fullest support and co-operation of the Select Committee, have had to fight numerous battles-I will say bluntly-with Government-verbal ones of course, in our endeavour to obtain statutory authority for the by-laws which, in accordance with our terms of reference, we felt necessary to recommend, I think Mr. Chairman I can claim in this instance to be very much more fully in the picture than you yourself who has the whole of the trials and tribulations of the Urban Services Department upon your shoulders. I neither liked nor agreed with the reply that you gave to the Question concerned, and I considered that the failure to mention certain very important aspects of our difficulties with Government was misleading. I am sure you will agree Sir, that as Chairman of this Council, your duty is to us to maintain and support the views of the Council. You may take the view that in your other capacity as Head of a very important Department of Government, namely, the Urban Services Department, you have a duty that may at times conflict with the obligations that must devolve upon anyone who holds the office of Chairman of this Council.

So long therefore, as the two offices are combined I would have thought myself that you could be relieved of much embarrassment if answers to Questions were given either directly by the Chairman of the Select Committee concerned or by you with the introductory words: "I am advised by the Chairman of the Select Committee concerned that so and so

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I have become convinced however, that this question of consulta- tion with Chairmen of Select Committees in respect to Questions answered from the Chair of the Council is but one aspect of a rather larger question, namely, the general responsibilities of Select Com- mittees through their Unofficial Chairmen. Only the other day I invoked a procedure which had largely fallen into disuse by delivering a report on the work of the Hawkers Executive Select Committee supple- menting the brief references that had been made in the relevant monthly report. This was based, as you said at the time Sir, upon an agree- ment that had been reached by the Council in Committee, but which

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was hardly consistent with the existing Standing Orders and you have yourself placed before the Standing Orders and Procedure Select Com- mittee certain proposals for the amendment of Standing Orders to regularize this particular situation.

I therefore feel that it would be appropriate at the same time to request the Select Committee to go into this whole question of Ques- tions, (with a capital Q) and in the words of my Motion, if thought fit, to suggest to this Council the procedure whereby the Chairman of the Urban Council shall consult the Chairman of the appropriate Select Committee before replying to Questions concerning that Committee's work and responsibilities. May I add that as a member of the Standing Orders and Procedure Select Committee, I personally would welcome any further suggestions from Members of the Council, that will ensure adequate liaison between the Official Chairman of the Council and the Unofficial Chairmen of the majority of the Council's Select Committees.

MR. A. DE O. SALES Seconded.

He said: Mr. Chairman, my support of this motion is whole- hearted insofar as the principle of it is concerned. However, when I look at the text of this motion I have one single reservation. I find in it a superfluity of commas. I am quite sure that the proponent of this motion did not show such lavish consideration for punctuating his motion, but that this arose merely as a result of a certain amount of distraction on the part of the Chairman and his department when sten- cilling these papers for circulation to the members of this Council. The distraction could have been prompted by the fact that there were so many questions on the agenda, questions with a capital Q, to be com- plemented by "supplementary questions" with small Qs. This fact has moved me to reserve my support and with the deletion of these two commas I should be most pleased indeed to give unreserved support to the motion before the Council. Should I recess whilst you consult the Secretary? (Laughter),

(The Secretary had at this point placed the original motion, as received and as reproduced in the agenda, before the Chairman).

CHAIRMAN:-I am not going to suggest that it be treated as an

amendment.

MR. SALES: This motion is in fact an extension of the principle that the Council is endeavouring to apply through the Standing Orders and Procedure Select Committee in the drawing up of your monthly reports. I feel most sincerely that the Unofficial Members of this Council must in some way be identified in public with the work that they do so hard in the various Select Committees. It is not enough to convene your Select Committee meetings. It is not enough to expect

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