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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

Urban Council: In the last few years much success has been achieved in re-organizing this Council. We have simplified the Select Committee structure by extensive re-grouping; we have examined the functions of the Delegated Member and hastened the processing of applications by laying down time-schedules; we have improved con- siderably our Standing Orders and Procedures.

It seems to me that this awareness of the need for increasing efficiency and cutting down on waste must permeate through to the lowest levels in the Departments with which this Council is associated, if the public is to be given the standard of service to which it is clearly entitled. But there is obviously a limit beyond which the Council, Mr. Chairman, cannot apply its energy, so the onus is on the Heads of the Departments concerned who, after all is said and done, are far more familiar with the machinery by which we, the poor people, are governed. May we have your assurance, Mr. Chairman, that this important matter is earnestly receiving the attention it evidently requires?

City Hall: I would like to mention here, Mr. Chairman, in con- nexion with the remarks which my friend, the previous speaker, made about the City Hall, that more than two years ago when I moved the resolution which was adopted for the setting up of the City Hall (Policy) Select Committee, I mentioned in clear terms which I repeated subsequently that if the City Hall is to be a success the people of Hong Kong must be made to feel that the Urban Council considers the City Hall the home of the people and would take every step to encourage its wide use by all sections of the community at any time. To our knowledge, the Select Committee concerned has left no stone unturned to ensure that such will be the case when the City Hall opens. There- fore, Mr. Chairman, I think that any misgivings about the use to which the City Hall will be put at this time need not in fact arise. Mr. BERNACCHI himself is a member of that Select Committee and is surely aware of the work and the thought which guides the Committee in setting up that City Hall and all that it connotes.

Co-operation: Mr. Y. K. KAN would like me to extend his apologies for his inability to attend this meeting to-day, Mr. Chairman. He has asked me to make the point which, I believe, he made last year in connexion with the Urban Council, the Urban Services Department and the other Departments connected with the Urban Council in our multifarious functions. We, the Appointed Members, are in effect watching very carefully the relation which subsists between the Council and all such departments. We feel that it is important for us to know the extent and the degree of co-operation that the Council can count on at any time in pursuit of its aims, and more particularly its pro- grammes. Mr. Kan would very much like that these remarks which

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I have made to-day be passed into the record of proceedings of to-day's meeting.

MR. ERNEST C. WONG:-Mr. Chairman, in rising to support your statement of progress and policy, I am gratified to say that the year under review has been one of progress, and much was achieved. Credit is due this Council for the team-work of its Members, supported by the services of a hard-working staff.

Being an industrialist and since I joined your august ranks, I have been a proponent of "Flatted Factories". The subject has become more pressing to-day, and I feel it timely that the Council take up the matter and review what could be done to alleviate hardship to those concerned, created by the advancing development of the Colony as a whole. The present arrangements for accommodation of factories cleared from squatter areas leave much to be desired. Only factories that fall into the categories permitted are accommodated. It is true that factories so excluded are provided with "White Cards" for the resettlement of workers, but we must realize that these workers would have to be disbanded due to the fact of their management being deprived of accommodation. In my surveys during the past year I have found fifteen individual cases of this nature. Another point I would like to be reviewed is factories requiring more than 2,000 square feet of space that cannot at present be accommodated. The third point to be considered is that factories on Crown Land resumed by Government should be given accommodation at a reasonable rental. At this juncture I often find myself confronted by the question, "Is this the policy of a government who professed to assist and encourage industry?". In putting before you these points, I feel that a review of the situation is due. If no immediate action can be taken, then I would suggest that we do away with the nomenclature "Flatted Factories" in favour of "Flatted Workshops" which, at least, would not give the wrong impression to those concerned.

Having served on the Food & Food Premises Select Committee for two years, I am glad to say that the standard of cleanliness of licensed Food Premises has been raised to an appreciable degree. The Cleans- ing Campaign and Surprise Visits initiated in the past year have borne fruit. I would like to say a few words, however, on Cooked Food Stalls and unlicensed Food Premises, which do not have to observe the regulations imposed on licensed Food Premises. In my frequent rounds of the various districts, I have found flagrant disregard of common sense sanitation by Cooked Food Stalls and unlicensed Food Premises who also cater food to the public. Licensed Food Premises even in resettlement estates have to take heed of standard sanitary conditions, and I cannot see why Cooked Food Stalls and unlicensed Food Premises should enjoy the unsavoury privilege of neglecting public