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appointed to this Council or to the Legislative or Executive Councils. I presume this is an unintentional slight on the women of Hong Kong, but I well remember in 1956 the newspaper headlines when the voting public of Hong Kong returned me to this Council "First lady member of any Hong Kong Council" and there was great excitement, not because of the particular representative but because of the novelty of a woman representative. I felt a responsibility and obligation towards my fellow-women and I felt that they and others must have been satisfied with the representation given by me when they returned me again in 1959. Therefore I have been a little surprised in the light of this that no official thought has apparently been given to increasing the lady representation on this or other Councils.
There are many women with time and energy to spare for the work of the Councils in this Colony and with the ability to carry out the work and to truly help the people of this Colony. Many women are already giving full time their services in the Women's Associations, in Welfare Associations and other branches of Social Service and they are well-known to us either personally or from newspaper photographs and accounts of their good works, but, there are yet many others who are less famous but who quietly and thoroughly devote themselves to public work and whose appointment to this Council would be of benefit to the Council and the community, and also a recognition of their devotion and ability. Considerable public money must have been spent on our Salaries Commission which amongst other things considered equal pay for women for equal work and while only a measure of success was achieved in this, I feel that increased lady representation on this Council and the inauguration of lady representation on the other Councils of the Colony would go a long way to rewarding the many wonderful hard-working women of our community.
Naturally I, and my elected colleagues, would prefer to see the greater part of this Council an elected body and also a measure of elected representation for the Legislative Council, because then without doubt there would be several lady members of these Councils, but until that day comes when there is an elected majority then I would ask the members of this Council to support my motion before them today.
DR. R. H. S. LEE:-I regret to inform you, Mr. Chairman, that Mr. BERNACCHI is indisposed. With your concurrence, Sir, I am reading his seconding speech to-day.
CHAIRMAN: -Standing Order 10(3) states: "Where a notice of motion has been given by any Member and at the proper time for it to be moved he is absent the motion may with his permission be moved by any other Member." It does not say anything about seconding a
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motion, but I think it is in the spirit of Standing Orders that this should be permitted also. Therefore, unless there are any objections, Dr. LEE may proceed.
(There were no objections from Members)
DR. LEE then spoke on behalf of Mr. B. A. BERNACCHI: Mr. Chairman, I rise to second the motion of Dr. Alison BELL and particularly endorse what she has already said in respect to the position of Appointed Members of this Council. In my opinion in a Council like this Urban Council where we are not concerned with international relationships or matters regarding the security of Hong Kong, the only justification for Appointed Members is to ensure an adequate representation for the people of Hong Kong as a whole.
Whilst the Electorate continues to be so small in comparison with the population of Hong Kong as a whole, and whilst we do not have a ward system which would enable representation to be achieved more on a district basis, there is a likelihood that one party or Coalition of parties will sweep the polls or even as unfortunately happened earlier this year, will appear too strong for other persons to even stand for Election against them. Under such circumstances and as an interim measure, the system of Appointed Members can and in my view should be used, not so much as a counter to Elected Members, but as a means of insuring that the Council has a wider range of representation than the Elections are at present able to provide. I think indeed it is unfortunate that the Council is at present drawn almost exclusively from professional and big business classes. I have said on occasions before that a wider range can only be obtained if members are paid a salary so that we could have people on the Council both through Election and Appointment who could devote the time required for the work of the Council without as a result finding themselves financially embarrassed. Only in this way would we be able to obtain the assistance of those large number of very able men and women in Hong Kong who are unfortunately not in a position to devote their services to the Council, if their only means of livelihood is a 9 to 5 job at a few hundred dollars a month.
Much of what I have just been saying is an attempt to look into the future, although I hope not too far away a future, but Dr. BELL'S motion today does give an indication of one immediate step that could be taken in the direction of widening the Appointed representation around this table. She has herself demonstrated again and again the value of a woman's point of view particularly in a Council like this which has to do so much with and for the family life here in Hong Kong. I would indeed in due course like to see such a woman taking her seat on the so-called more senior Councils of the Colony, although
Page 61 of 110
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...
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"[
Page 61 of 110
106
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
appointed to this Council or to the Legislative or Executive Councils. I presume this is an unintentional slight on the women of Hong Kong, but I well remember in 1956 the newspaper headlines when the voting public of Hong Kong returned me to this Council "First lady member of any Hong Kong Council" and there was great excitement, not because of the particular representative but because of the novelty of a woman representative. I felt a responsibility and obligation towards my fellow-women and I felt that they and others must have been satisfied with the representation given by me when they returned me again in 1959. Therefore I have been a little surprised in the light of this that no official thought has apparently been given to increasing the lady representation on this or other Councils.
There are many women with time and energy to spare for the work of the Councils in this Colony and with the ability to carry out the work and to truly help the people of this Colony. Many women are already giving full time their services in the Women's Associations, in Welfare Associations and other branches of Social Service and they are well-known to us either personally or from newspaper photographs and accounts of their good works, but, there are yet many others who are less famous but who quietly and thoroughly devote themselves to public work and whose appointment to this Council would be of benefit to the Council and the community, and also a recognition of their devotion and ability. Considerable public money must have been spent on our Salaries Commission which amongst other things considered equal pay for women for equal work and while only a measure of success was achieved in this, I feel that increased lady representation on this Council and the inauguration of lady representation on the other Councils of the Colony would go a long way to rewarding the many wonderful hard-working women of our community.
Naturally I, and my elected colleagues, would prefer to see the greater part of this Council an elected body and also a measure of elected representation for the Legislative Council, because then without doubt there would be several lady members of these Councils, but until that day comes when there is an elected majority then I would ask the members of this Council to support my motion before them today.
DR. R. H. S. LED:-I regret to inform you, Mr. Chairman, that Mr. BERNACCHI is indisposed. With your concurrence, Sir, I am reading his seconding speech to-day.
CHAIRMAN: -Standing Order 10(3) states: "Where a notice of motion has been given by any Member and at the proper time for it to be moved he is absent the motion may with his permission be moved by any other Member." It does not say anything about seconding a
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
107
motion, but I think it is in the spirit of Standing Orders that this should be permitted also. Therefore, unless there are any objections, Dr. LEE may proceed.
(There were no objections from Members)
DR. LEE then spoke on behalf of Mr. B. A. BERNACCHI: Mr. Chairman, I rise to second the motion of Dr. Alison BELL and partic- ularly endorse what she has already said in respect to the position of Appointed Members of this Council. In my opinion in a Council like this Urban Council where we are not concerned with international relationships or matters regarding the security of Hong Kong, the only justification for Appointed Members is to ensure an adequate represen- tation for the people of Hong Kong as a whole.
Whilst the Electorate continues to be so small in comparison with the population of Hong Kong as a whole, and whilst we do not have a ward system which would enable representation to be achieved more on a district basis, there is a likelihood that one party or Coalition of parties will sweep the polls or even as unfortunately happened earlier this year, will appear too strong for other persons to even stand for Election against them. Under such circumstances and as an interim measure, the system of Appointed Members can and in my view should be used, not so much as a counter to Elected Members, but as a means of insuring that the Council has a wider range of representation than the Elections are at present able to provide. I think indeed it is un- fortunate that the Council is at present drawn almost exclusively from professional and big business classes. I have said on occasions before that a wider range can only be obtained if members are paid a salary so that we could have people on the Council both through Election and Appointment who could devote the time required for the work of the Council without as a result finding themselves financially em- barrassed. Only in this way would we be able to obtain the assistance of those large number of very able men and women in Hong Kong who are unfortunately not in a position to devote their services to the Council, if their only means of livelihood is a 9 to 5 job at a few hundred dollars a month.
Much of what I have just been saying is an attempt to look into the future, although I hope not too far away a future, but Dr. BELL'S motion today does give an indication of one immediate step that could be taken in the direction of widening the Appointed representation around this table. She has herself demonstrated again and again the value of a woman's point of view particularly in a Council like this which has to do so much with and for the family life here in Hong Kong. I would indeed in due course like to see such a woman taking her seat on the so-called more senior Councils of the Colony, although
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