HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. K. S. Lo:-Mr. Chairman, all those who have spoken in favour of this motion have made it abundantly clear why Government must employ more Chinese in its official communications. The relevant points in its favour have been presented before this Council. It is therefore only necessary for me to make a few remarks out of personal experience to lend this motion my support.
As a Soft Drink manufacturer and distributor, it is my privilege to deal with thousands of small dealers who do not read or speak any English at all. I soon find that one of their biggest problems is when they receive a letter, a summons or just an ordinary notice written in English. When our Salesmen go out on their regular routes, they are very often requested by them to read and translate or fill in application forms which are in English. So instead of doing selling, a large part of their time is devoted to assisting their customers in their dealing with Government official communications. It has now reached the stage whereby it is taking up so much of our Salesmen's time that recently I have decided to set up a special "Dealers' Service Department" to handle such matters. Thus when one of our dealers receives a letter written in English, he passes it on to our Salesman who takes it back to the office and passes it to this Service Department for translation. If another dealer wants to apply for a Cigarette or Beer Licence, he writes out the particulars in Chinese and our man helps him to fill-in in English. Our Department of Commerce and Industry which deals with thousands of small cigarette stall licence-holders and soft drink dealers who also sell beer side by side never even bothers to have its Dutiable Commodities Application Forms printed in English & Chinese. Some of our Public Utility companies, such as the Hong Kong Telephone Co., have their application forms printed only in English. Just think how much more convenient and time-saving would it be to the public, if only they are printed in bilingual languages!
Mr. Chairman I not only support the motion but would like it to be amended by adding the following words to the end of the sentence. After the word "Chinese," add "and wherever possible application forms used by Government Departments must be in both English and Chinese".
MR. HU-I do not know the procedure, may I second this motion? (Laughter)
MR. WILFRED WONG:-Mr. Chairman, as a member of this Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Simultaneous Translation, I have much pleasure in supporting the amended motion.
CHAIRMAN:-May I ask you to repeat the amendment.
MR. Lo:-Resolved that for the betterment of Hong Kong as a whole and for achieving the fundamental fairness of its inhabitants, this Council urges Government to introduce the system at present carried
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
out by the Urban Services Department of answering all Chinese correspondence in Chinese, and wherever possible application forms used by Government Departments must be in both English and Chinese.
MR. BERNACCHI :-Mr. Chairman, speaking on the proposed amended motion, let me congratulate Mr. K. S. Lo wholeheartedly on his speech. I have never heard him make a better speech in this Council. (Applause) I also support wholeheartedly his proposed amendment, in fact it is envisaged in the closing sentence of my own speech, "thus enabling all documents issued from a Government department to be issued bilingually," and I think that this amendment, if passed, would put before the Government of Hong Kong the feelings of the Urban Council in this matter of the use of bilingualism in all the documents issued from Government departments.
DR. BELL: Speaking again in support of the amended version, I hope that, as it is amended, the public utility companies to whom Mr. K. S. Lo has referred will follow if this were adopted.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I do wholeheartedly support the amendment to Mr. Hu's motion. The only thing that puzzles me as I support it is I don't know which is better, that a suggestion should be made that the Vitasoy Co. should be given a medal for its community service or whether Mr. Lo should be asked to make a contribution to charity for advertising Vitasoy in a Government Council. (Laughter)
MR. K. S. Lo:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to assure my friend, Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN, that no publicity was really intended by me and that it was purely a genuine personal experience.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-That is accepted.
MR. SALES: Sir, I had not intended speaking on this occasion because the motion makes such good sense that it must naturally win universal approval in the Council. However, the proposer Mr. Hu spoke with such tremendous sincerity and such great charm that I am attracted by his compelling arguments. I was most impressed with the speech made by Mr. BERNACCHI and with the speech also made by Dr. BELL in which great pains were taken to emphasize that this was indeed a Reform Club Motion. (Laughter) In the circumstances, I would like to ask members of the Reform Club whether this categorical statement made by Mr. Hu is in fact the official view of the party at the time. May I quote "My humble view is that the adoption of this motion may well be worth more than 10 elected seats in the Legislative Council so far as serving as a bridge between the Government and the people of Hong Kong is concerned.” I am most impressed with this motion and with his statement, and I congratulate Mr. Hu on his perspicacity and I trust that this is now the official policy of the Reform Club. (Laughter) I support the amendment just as I support this motion. I would like to
Page 169 of 382
316
317
of 382
316
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. K. S. Lo:-Mr. Chairman, all those who have spoken in favour of this motion have made it abundantly clear why Government must employ more Chinese in its official communications. The relevant points in its favour have been presented before this Council. It is therefore only necessary for me to make a few remarks out of personal experience to lend this motion my support.
As a Soft Drink manufacturer and distributor, it is my privilege to deal with thousands of small dealers who do not read or speak any English at all. I soon find that one of their biggest problems is when they receive a letter, a summons or just an ordinary notice written in English. When our Salesmen go out on their regular routes, they are very often requested by them to read and translate or fill in application forms which are in English. So instead of doing selling, a large part of their time is devoted to assisting their customers in their dealing with Government official communications. It has now reached the stage whereby it is taking up so much of our Salesmen's time that recently I have decided to set up a special "Dealers' Service Department" to handle such matters. Thus when one of our dealers receives a letter written in English, he passes it on to our Salesman who takes it back to the office and passes it to this Service Department for translation. If another dealer wants to apply for a Cigarette or Beer Licence, he writes out the particulars in Chinese and our man helps him to fill-in in English. Our Department of Commerce and Industry which deals with thousands of small cigarette stall licence-holders and soft drink dealers who also sell beer side by side never even bothers to have its Dutiable Commodities Application Forms printed in English & Chinese. Some of our Public Utility companies, such as the Hong Kong Telephone Co., have their application forms printed only in English. Just think how much more convenient and time-saving would it be to the public, if only they are printed in bilingual languages!
Mr. Chairman I not only support the motion but would like it to be amended by adding the following words to the end of the sentence. After the word "Chinese," add "and wherever possible application forms used by Government Departments must be in both English and Chinese".
MR. HU-I do not know the procedure, may I second this motion? (Laughter)
MR. WILFRED WONG:-Mr. Chairman, as a member of this Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Simultaneous Translation, I have much pleasure in supporting the amended motion.
CHAIRMAN:-May I ask you to repeat the amendment.
MR. Lo:-Resolved that for the betterment of Hong Kong as a whole and for achieving the fundamental fairness of its inhabitants, this Council urges Government to introduce the system at present carried
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
317
out by the Urban Services Department of answering all Chinese corres- pondence in Chinese, and wherever possible application forms used by Government Departments must be in both English and Chinese.
MR. BERNACCHI :-Mr. Chairman, speaking on the proposed amend- ed motion, let me congratulate Mr. K. S. Lo wholeheartedly on his speech. I have never heard him make a better speech in this Council. (Applause) I also support wholeheartedly his proposed amendment, in fact it is envisaged in the closing sentence of my own speech, "thus enabling all documents issued from a Government department to be issued bilingually," and I think that this amendment, if passed, would put before the Government of Hong Kong the feelings of the Urban Council in this matter of the use of bilingualism in all the documents issued from Government departments.
DR. BELL: Speaking again in support of the amended version, I hope that, as it is amended, the public utility companies to whom Mr. K. S. Lo has referred will follow if this were adopted.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I do wholeheartedly support the amendment to Mr. Hu's motion. The only thing that puzzles me as I support it is I don't know which is better, that a suggestion should be made that the Vitasoy Co. should be given a medal for its community service or whether Mr. Lo should be asked to make a contribution to charity for advertising Vitasoy in a Government Council. (Laughter)
MR. K. S. Lo:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to assure my friend, Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN, that no publicity was really intended by me and that it was purely a geniune personal experience.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-That is accepted.
MR. SALES: Sir, I had not intended speaking on this occasion because the motion makes such good sense that it must naturally win universal approval in the Council. However, the proposer Mr. Hu spoke with such tremendous sincerity and such great charm that I am attracted by his compelling arguments. I was most impressed with the speech made by Mr. BERNACCHI and with the speech also made by Dr. BELL in which great pains were taken to emphasize that this was indeed a Reform Club Motion. (Laughter) In the circumstances, I would like to ask members of the Reform Club whether this categorical statement made by Mr. Hu is in fact the official view of the party at the time. May I quote "My humble view is that the adoption of this motion may well be worth more than 10 elected seats in the Legislative Council so far as serving as a bridge between the Government and the people of Hong Kong is concerned.” I am most impressed with this motion and with his statement, and I congratulate Mr. Hu on his perspicacity and I trust that this is now the official policy of the Reform Club. (Laughter) I support the amendment just as I support this motion. I would like to
Page 169 of 382
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.