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Government to look into this question as a matter of urgency, resolve on a definite policy as to whether to have several Urban District Councils, or one Municipal Council looking after the day-to-day life of Hong Kong as a whole, and then to pursue this policy with vigour and resolution.
Mr. Chairman, as I said before, I support this motion.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-I support the motion moved by Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in and seconded by Dr. Raymond LEE.
The question of putting Tsuen Wan under this Council has for many years been discussed within the Urban Council and considered by Government without any clear-cut decision being taken.
The time has come for Government to take the progressive step of putting all that part of the New Territories between Lai Chi Kok and Tsuen Wan under the Urban Council insofar as its statutory responsibilities are concerned, such as public health, hawker control, and resettlement.
Recently, Government transferred the responsibility of issuing various types of licences from the New Territories Administration to the Police. There are other departments such as the Education, Medical and Fire Services Departments, which are operating in the New Territories without having a split personality like that of the Urban Services Department, which has two masters, the Urban Council and the New Territories Administration.
If Government wishes to lift itself out of the present administrative morass, it should as a first step put the Castle Peak and Tsuen Wan area under the Urban Council for those matters within the Council's competence.
It is a fact that more and more people living or working in urban Kowloon are moving out to Tsuen Wan. They are clamouring for better public health services, more recreation amenities, improved education and public transport services.
Urban Council voters living in the Castle Peak and Tsuen Wan area cannot understand Government's topsy-turvy logic in giving the Urban Council franchise to residents in the New Territories, and yet not allowing the Urban Council to have any responsibility in Tsuen Wan.
If there were a referendum in Tsuen Wan to-morrow, the residents there would overwhelmingly vote in favour of incorporating Tsuen Wan within the Urban Council jurisdiction. That is providing, of course, that Government does not start negotiating among Tsuen Wan's leading residents to oppose this eminently sound idea.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
279
In considering the motion, I hope Government will bear more in mind the needs of Tsuen Wan residents for better public health, recreation, education and housing facilities, rather than the need to preserve tradition in the form of out-of-date Ching dynasty marriage laws which permit a New Territories resident to deputize the male species of the chicken as his proxy in marrying a girl, or to become financially insolvent because it is so easy for him under the Ching dynasty marriage laws again to acquire many concubines sometimes (Laughter) which are apparently recognized by Government purely as an arrangement of convenience.
Mr. Chairman, I had at first used the word concubines galore but I decided that it wasn't appropriate.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, my colleague Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in has mentioned some of the anomalies resulting from the present position with regard to Tsuen Wan. During the past few years, hundreds of people from Tsuen Wan have come to the Urban Councillors for help and advice. I have never used the argument to them that we cannot help them because they are outside our jurisdiction, because I have always considered that they have a right to come to us. Some of them vote for us, why not? The people of Hong Kong have only a small teaspoonful of democracy in the election of a minority of the Urban Councillors. I am not meaning to be derogatory to the appointed members of the Urban Council, but the people of Tsuen Wan have not even a teaspoonful of democratic representation. In bringing some of their problems to the notice of the District Office in Tsuen Wan, I have been told by the office that it is not the competent authority and the matter must be referred to the Urban Services Department and, as Mr. CHEUNG has pointed out, we are not permitted to control our own executive arm in Tsuen Wan. To give you another example of the absurdities, about a year ago some squatters were moved from Shau Kei Wan to Kwun Tong. They came to us for help and the matter was brought before this Council. A few months later the same squatters were resettled in Kwai Chung and they came to us for help again but then we were supposed to tell them that they were no longer our concern since the estates to which they were being sent were not under our jurisdiction. This, of course, is quite absurd. Mr. CHEUNG has put the case very well. Mr. Chairman I support the motion.
MR. SALES: Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in's motion is deserving of support. To extend the responsibility of the Urban Council to include Tsuen Wan is an aim of long standing.
I believe the Urban Council was virtually promised that its jurisdiction would be extended to Tsuen Wan once the initial stages of development from village to town had passed. Tsuen Wan has grown
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Page 150 of 382
278
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Government to look into this question as a matter of urgency, resolve on a definite policy as to whether to have several Urban District Councils, or one Municipal Council looking after the day-to-day life of Hong Kong as a whole, and then to pursue this policy with vigour and resolution.
Mr. Chairman, as I said before, I support this motion.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-I support the motion moved by Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in and seconded by Dr. Raymond LEE.
The question of putting Tsuen Wan under this Council has for many years been discussed within the Urban Council and considered by Government without any clear-cut decision being taken.
The time has come for Government to take the progressive step of putting all that part of the New Territories between Lai Chi Kok and Tsuen Wan under the Urban Council insofar as its statutory respon- sibilities are concerned, such as public health, hawker control, and resettlement.
Recently, Government transferred the responsibility of issuing various types of licences from the New Territories Administration to the Police. There are other departments such as the Education, Medicai and Fire Services Departments, which are operating in the New Territories without having a split personality like that of the Urban Services Department, which has two masters, the Urban Council and the New Territories Administration.
If Government wishes to lift itself out of the present administrative morass, it should as a first step put the Castle Peak and Tsuen Wan area under the Urban Council for those matters within the Council's competence.
It is a fact that more and more people living or working in urban Kowloon are moving out to Tsuen Wan. They are clamouring for better public health services, more recreation amenities, improved educa- tion and public transport services.
Urban Council voters living in the Castle Peak and Tsuen Wan area cannot understand Government's topsy turvy logic in giving the Urban Council franchise to residents in the New Territories, and yet not allowing the Urban Council to have any responsibility in Tsuen Wan.
If there were a referendum in Tsuen Wan to-morrow, the residents there would overwhelmingly vote in favour of incorporating Tsuen Wan within the Urban Council jurisdiction. That is providing, of course, that Government does not start negotiating among Tsuen Wan's leading residents to oppose this eminently sound idea.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
279
In considering the motion, I hope Government will bear more in mind the needs of Tsuen Wan residents for better public health, recreation, education and housing facilities, rather than the need to preserve tradition in the form of out-of-date Ching dynasty marriage laws which permit a New Territories resident to deputize the male species of the chicken as his proxy in marrying a girl, or to become financially insolvent because it is so easy for him under the Ching dynasty marriage laws again to acquire many concubines sometimes (Laughter) which are apparently recognized by Government purely as an arrangement of convenience.
Mr. Chairman, I had at first used the word concubines galore but I decided that it wasn't appropriate.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, my colleague Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in has mentioned some of the anomalies resulting from the present position with regard to Tsuen Wan. During the past few years, hundreds of people from Tsuen Wan have come to the Urban Councillors for help and advice. I have never used the argument to them that we cannot help them because they are outside our jurisdiction, because I have always considered that they have a right to come to us. Some of them vote for us, why not? The people of Hong Kong have only a small teaspoonful of democracy in the election of a minority of the Urban Councillors. I am not meaning to be derogatory to the appointed members of the Urban Council, but the people of Tsuen Wan have not even a teaspoonful of democratic representation. In bringing some of their problems to the notice of the District Office in Tsuen Wan, I have been told by the office that it is not the competent authority and the matter must be referred to the Urban Services Department and, as Mr. CHEUNG has pointed out, we are not permitted to control our own executive arm in Tsuen Wan. To give you another example of the absurdities, about a year ago some squatters were moved from Shau Kei Wan to Kwun Tong. They came to us for help and the matter was brought before this Council. A few months later the same squatters were resettled in Kwai Chung and they came to us for help again but then we were supposed to tell them that they were no longer our concern since the estates to which they were being sent were not under our jurisdiction. This, of course, is quite absurd. Mr. CHEUNG has put the case very well. Mr. Chairman I support the motion.
MR. SALES: Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in's motion is deserving of sup- port. To extend the responsibility of the Urban Council to include Tsuen Wan is an aim of long standing.
I believe the Urban Council was virtually promised that its juris- diction would be extended to Tsuen Wan once the initial stages of development from village to town had passed. Tsuen Wan has grown
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