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(c) To what extent, if any, does the Urban Council exercise control over the Department's operations in the New Territories?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:-
The relationship of the Urban Council to the Urban Services Department is covered by Section 55 of the Urban Council Ordinance No. 14 of 1955, which reads as follows: ---
"The functions of the Urban Services Department shall include the doing of such acts or things as may be necessary for the purpose of implementing any decision of the Council, or of any person or body of persons to whom the Council may, under the provisions of this or any other Ordinance, have delegated such power, made in exercise of any power conferred on the Council by any Ordinance or the regulations made thereunder."
Section 55 of the Ordinance was amended by the Urban Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 1960, and the reason was explained in the Objects and Reasons, as follows:
It has been decided that the Urban Services Department shall assume responsibility in the New Territories for all those matters for which it is responsible in the urban areas of the Colony. With effect from the 1st April, 1960, the Department has assumed responsibility for such of those matters as do not require statutory authority, and it will assume responsibility for matters which require such authority as and when it is administratively convenient and the necessary legislation is enacted. This enlargement of the functions of the Urban Services Department has necessitated the amendment of certain sections of the principal Ordinance which made provision with respect to the functions, administration and officers of that Department.
Section 55 of the principal Ordinance.
Doubts have arisen as to whether, as this section stands, the Urban Services Department may perform any functions other than functions in relation to matters over which the Urban Council exercises control. It was never intended that the section should be restrictive of the functions of that Department which is, and has always been, a department of Government in no different position from any other such department, though
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a particularly close relationship has always obtained between the Department and the Urban Council. It is not intended that there shall be any change whatever in this close relationship, but it is considered desirable, in view of the proposed extension of its activities, to amend this section in order to make it clear that the Department is not restricted to the performance of functions in respect of matters over which the Urban Council exercises control.
There is nothing which I can usefully add to that statement, except to reiterate that Government continues to recognize the close relationship which happily exists between the Council and the Department but considers that the Department is not precluded thereby from undertaking functions outside the sphere of the Council, as, for instance, in the New Territories.
(b) The functions of the Urban Services Department in the New Territories are described in Chapter VI of the Department's Annual Report for 1961-62, and there will be a more recent version in the 1962-63 Report which should appear in print shortly. Briefly, since April 1960 the Department has been responsible in the New Territories for public cleansing, the supervision and cleansing of markets and hawker areas, and the control of public latrines and bathhouses, cemeteries, burials, public parks, playgrounds and beaches. The District Commissioner, New Territories, still remains the statutory authority for offensive trades and private slaughterhouses. The number of staff of the Urban Services Department employed on the work in the New Territories which I have outlined is approximately 800. Their activities are co-ordinated by an Assistant Superintendent at departmental headquarters.
(c) Regarding the third part of the question, the Council does not exercise control over the Department's operations in the New Territories. But there is in force an arrangement whereby the Urban Amenities Select Committee is kind enough, on occasion, to advise the Department on the administration of beaches in the New Territories.
MR. BERNACCHI:-The first supplementary: Was the amendment and/or the Objects and Reasons, out of courtesy, referred to the Urban Council first before it was passed and for the comments of the Urban Council upon them?
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(c) To what extent, if any, does the Urban Council exercise control over the Department's operations in the New Territories?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:-
The relationship of the Urban Council to the Urban Services Department is covered by Section 55 of the Urban Council Ordinance No. 14 of 1955, which reads as follows: ---
"The functions of the Urban Services Depart- ment shall include the doing of such acts or things as may be necessary for the purpose of implementing any decision of the Council, or of any person or body of persons to whom the Council may, under the provisions of this or any other Ordinance, have delegated such power, made in exercise of any power conferred on the Council by any Ordinance or the regulations made thereunder."
Section 55 of the Ordinance was amended by the Urban Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 1960, and the reason was explained in the Objects and Reasons, as follows:
It has been decided that the Urban Services Department shall assume responsibility in the New Territories for all those matters for which it is responsible in the urban areas of the Colony. With effect from the 1st April, 1960, the Department has assumed responsibility for such of those matters as do not require statutory authority, and it will assume responsibility for matters which require such authority as and when it is administratively convenient and the necessary legislation is enacted. This enlargement of the functions of the Urban Services Department has necessitated the amendment of certain sections of the principal Ordinance which made provision with respect to the functions, administration and officers of that Department.
Section 55 of the principal Ordinance.
Doubts have arisen as to whether, as this section stands, the Urban Services Department may perform any functions other than functions in relation to matters over which the Urban Council exercises control. It was never intended that the section should be restrictive of the functions of that Department which is, and has always been, a department of Government in no different position from any other such department, though
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a particularly close relationship has always obtained between the Department and the Urban Council. It is not intended that there shall be any change whatever in this close relationship, but it is considered desirable, in view of the proposed extension of its activities, to amend this section in order to make it clear that the Department is not restricted to the performance of functions in respect of matters over which the Urban Council exercise control.
There is nothing which I can usefully add to that statement, except to reiterate that Government continues to recognize the close relationship which happily exists between the Council and the Department but considers that the Department is not precluded thereby from undertaking functions outside the sphere of the Council, as, for instance, in the New Territories.
(b) The functions of the Urban Services Department in the New Territories are described in Chapter VI of the Department's Annual Report for 1961-62, and there will be a more recent version in the 1962-63 Report which should appear in print shortly. Briefly, since April 1960 the Department has been responsible in the New Terri- tories for public cleansing, the supervision and cleansing of markets and hawker areas, and the control of public latrines and bathhouses, cemeteries, burials, public parks, playgrounds and beaches. The District Commissioner, New Territories, still remains the statutory authority for offensive trades and private slaughterhouses. The number of staff of the Urban Services Department employed on the work in the New Territories which I have outlined is approximately 800. Their activities are co-ordinated by an Assistant Superintendent at departmental headquarters. (c) Regarding the third part of the question, the Council does not exercise control over the Department's operations in the New Territories. But there is in force an arrange- ment whereby the Urban Amenities Select Committee is kind enough, on occasion, to advise the Department on the administration of beaches in the New Territories.
MR. BERNACCHI:-The first supplementary: Was the amendment and/or the Objects and Reasons, out of courtesy, referred to the Urban Council first before it was passed and for the comments of the Urban Council upon them?
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.