HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN.
He said: Before we proceed with the Agenda, I am sure that Members would wish me to congratulate Mr. BERNACCHI, Mr. Li Yiu-bor, Dr. P. F. Woo and Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN on their being returned to this Council (Applause) and to welcome back Mr. INGLIS from leave.
I feel sure that Members would also wish me to express our appreciation to Mr. FORSYTH for his services and help to the Council during Mr. INGLIS' absence. (Applause).
MINUTES.
The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 7th February, 1961, were confirmed.
PAPERS.
THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following papers:-
(1) Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban Services Department for the month of February 1961.
(2) Analyses of the recommendations of the Estimates Select Committee on the staffing requirements of the Urban Services and Resettlement Departments for the financial year 1961/62.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI :- Mr. Chairman, in the past there has been a formal motion that recommendations of the Select Committee be accepted and that has been, of course, before ever the Budget Estimates came out, and in noting these recommendations that are laid on the table, may I for one express my regrets that we have not followed the earlier procedure. It may be that it was not done last year, I can't remember, but I would express regret that we have not been asked to adopt these recommendations and indeed adopt them before they went to Government to be incorporated in the draft Estimates.
CHAIRMAN: I regret, Sir, that I do not know what the past procedure was but I will look into it.
Included in the papers laid on the table today is the analyses of staff increases proposed in the draft Estimates for the next financial year. In accordance with the established convention of this Council any Member who now wishes to do so is free to speak on general questions related directly to the department's establishment. There is no formal motion and no vote will be taken.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I should say first of all that although the overall staff increases provisionally approved are approximately 30% less than the total proposed to Government, the reductions which have been made are mainly in respect of minor posts, and providing a good standard of supervision is maintained, the department should be able to continue to meet its commitments effectively. The final outcome of the deliberations and recommendations of the Estimates Select Committee may appear disappointing, but I think that the grounds for effecting reductions have to be accepted.
There are a number of other points which I should mention briefly :-
(i) 49 additional special driver posts have been approved. These will enable the department to man the additional special vehicles which will be brought into use next year.
(ii) Only the staff required to complete the programme originally approved by Government for the Hawker Control Force has been authorized. This means that expansion in the activities of the Force, for which 4 Sergeants, 6 Corporals and 48 Constables were requested, will not be possible.
(iii) 28 new Watchmen posts were requested for markets. No watchmen have been authorized for markets and the 2 watchmen at present employed at the New Yau Ma Tei Market are to be transferred elsewhere. The Commissioner of Police will be asked to help to provide a degree of security at markets.
(iv) 100 new Assistant Health Inspector posts were requested. 70 posts have been approved. This will suffice to meet our requirements, as there are now 52 vacancies which will not be filled until 1961/62. Absorption of 122 officers for training next year will, in fact, place some strain on the tutorial staff.
(v) Additional Lifeguards and Labourers are not being authorized for any newly developed beaches until such time as it can be shown that the beaches are sufficiently popular with the public to warrant the provision of staff.
(vi) No Labourer posts for keeping hawker sites clean have been authorized and it has been suggested that measures should be taken to get the hawkers to keep their own sites clean. Reductions in the number of posts requested for general street cleansing have also been made on the grounds that the Hawker Control Force should help to restrict the activities of hawkers and thereby ease cleansing duties.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN.
He said: Before we proceed with the Agenda, I am sure that Members would wish me to congratulate Mr. BERNACCHI, Mr. Li Yiu- bor, Dr. P. F. Woo and Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN on their being returned to this Council (Applause) and to welcome back Mr. INGLIS from leave.
I feel sure that Members would also wish me to express our appreciation to Mr. FORSYTH for his services and help to the Council during Mr. INGLIS' absence. (Applause).
MINUTES.
The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 7th February, 1961, were confirmed.
PAPERS.
THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following papers:-
(1) Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban
Services Department for the month of February 1961.
(2) Analyses of the recommendations of the Estimates Select Committee on the staffing requirements of the Urban Services and Resettlement Departments for the financial year 1961/62.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI : -Mr. Chairman, in the past there has been a formal motion that recommendations of the Select Committee be accepted and that has been, of course, before ever the Budget Estimates came out, and in noting these recommendations that are laid on the table, may I for one express my regrets that we have not followed the earlier procedure. It may be that it was not done last year, I can't remember, but I would express regret that we have not been asked to adopt these recommendations and indeed adopt them before they went to Government to be incorporated in the draft Estimates.
CHAIRMAN: I regret, Sir, that I do not know what the past procedure was but I will look into it.
Included in the papers laid on the table today is the analyses of staff increases proposed in the draft Estimates for the next financial year. In accordance with the established convention of this Council any Member who now wishes to do so is free to speak on general questions related directly to the department's establishment. There is no formal motion and no vote will be taken.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
207
I should say first of all that although the overall staff increases provisionally approved are approximately 30% less than the total proposed to Government, the reductions which have been made are mainly in respect of minor posts, and providing a good standard of supervision is maintained, the department should be able to continue to meet its commitments effectively. The final outcome of the delibera- tions and recommendations of the Estimates Select Committee may appear disappointing, but I think that the grounds for effecting reduc- tions have to be accepted.
There are a number of other points which I should mention briefly :-
(i) 49 additional special driver posts have been approved. These will enable the department to man the additional special vehicles which will be brought into use next year. (ii) Only the staff required to complete the programme originally approved by Government for the Hawker Control Force has been authorized. This means that expansion in the activities of the Force, for which 4 Sergeants, 6 Corporals and 48 Constables were requested, will not be possible.
(iii) 28 new Watchmen posts were requested for markets. No watchmen have been authorized for markets and the 2 watchmen at present employed at the New Yau Ma Tei Market are to be transferred elsewhere. The Commis- sioner of Police will be asked to help to provide a degree of security at markets.
(iv) 100 new Assistant Health Inspector posts were requested. 70 posts have been approved. This will suffice to meet our requirements, as there are now 52 vacancies which will not be filled until 1961/62. Absorption of 122 officers for training next year will, in fact, place some strain on the tutorial staff.
(v) Additional Lifeguards and Labourers are not being authorized for any newly developed beaches until such time as it can be shown that the beaches are sufficiently popular with the public to warrant the provision of staff. (vi) No Labourer posts for keeping hawker sites clean have been authorized and it has been suggested that measures should be taken to get the hawkers to keep their own sites clean. Reductions in the number of posts requested for general street cleansing have also been made on the grounds that the Hawker Control Force should help to restrict the activities of hawkers and thereby ease cleans- ing duties.
Page 112 of 11
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