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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

CHAIRMAN:-Mr. FUNG Hon-chu referred to the question of licensing and to the previous delays which were considerable, but he did say that the time taken by the Fire Services for clearing applications for restaurant licences has now been reduced from 25 days and 36 days on the Island and on the mainland respectively to 14 days on both sides of the harbour, following representations by the Urban Services Department. I have no doubt whatever that the interest in this matter of the Urban Services Department and the Urban Council has had some effect, but I would point out that a general survey of the need to speed up licensing procedures was recently initiated and implemented by the Colonial Secretariat.

Mr. K. S. Lo spoke about the need to have some representative on the Food and Food Premises Select Committee. I have attended meetings of that Committee when, I am sure, representatives of the Fire Services Department have been present. But the point could be put to the Director of Fire Services formally and I would certainly propose to refer to the Director this tale of delays amounting to four months. The story surprises me in view of the fact that Mr. FUNG Hon-chu has already said that delays have now been reduced to 14 days.

Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in referred to the case of the China Building. The history of this matter goes back some years. All I can say is that, from my knowledge, it was the Fire Services Department, and in particular the previous Director of Fire Services, Mr. Cox, who pushed and prodded and agitated for action to be taken to introduce a larger measure of fire safety in that building.

I do not wish to comment at any length upon the various suggestions made by Dr. BELL, Mr. Wilson WANG, Mr. SALES, and Mr. BERNACCHI. Much of what they said appears to me to make good sense.

I would like to finish these remarks by saying that I am sure that the Director of Fire Services will be grateful for the kind words spoken today about his hard-working and courageous body of civil servants.

Earlier this year, Mr. FUNG Hon-chu informed me that he had under consideration a proposal to move, with the support of his colleagues on the Appointed side of the Council, a motion to bring the Fire Services Department under the jurisdiction of the Urban Council. He later decided to defer action on the matter until he returned from a business trip abroad, and in the meantime, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN slipped in his motion on the same subject. I am glad to see that Mr. FUNG is the seconder of this motion.

Finally, I am authorized to say that the report of this debate will be forwarded to the Colonial Secretary in the normal way, and I am confident that it will receive full and careful consideration.

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MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-May I borrow your copy of the Annual Report for 1964/65 that came out just a week ago? The one that you were quoting from.

CHAIRMAN:-Sir, on a point of clarification, I was quoting from the 1964 Annual Report on Hong Kong, tabled in the Legislative Council about the end of February of this year.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Were you not also, Mr. Chairman, quoting from the last Annual Report of the Fire Services Department? (the Chairman handed the Report to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN).... Thank you. This document, Mr. Chairman,-I tried to get a copy just a few days before the Motion was supposed to have been debated at the beginning of this month. At that time, it was not yet out, so I was only able to peruse the 1963/64 Annual Departmental Report, and I must say that what I read in that Report was rather depressing, contrary to what was read into it by some of my other colleagues.

I would like to quote to you, Mr. Chairman, a paragraph from the 1963/64 Report, and to me, it seems to be quite contrary to some of the things which have been said by yourself and by Mr. FORSGATE, and I quote verbatim, Mr. Chairman, and this is in reference to the question of the recruitment of Fire Services staff and particularly of Ambulance Service staff:—

"The effect of being unable to recruit experienced drivers has resulted in a record number of accidents to Fire Department vehicles and most regrettable of all, injuries to members of the Public. New methods are being considered to overcome difficulties, but the prima facie cause, i.e., comparatively low remuneration, long hours of duty, and lack of personal freedom, remains."

Now may I also refer, Mr. Chairman, to Paragraph 20 of the latest Annual Report, that is the 1964/65 Report. I see that Paragraph 20—you yourself, Sir, or a member of your staff has underlined it in red-

"The most serious effect"

that is how it is printed here—

"on the well-being of the Service is our continuing inability to recruit suitable trainee officers (i.e., Fire Officers Class III). In this echelon, we remain 65% under establishment, and if a solution is not found within the next 18 months, considerable recruitment of overseas officers will be necessary to avoid organizational collapse of the intermediate echelons. In the long-term, the situation is extremely serious as we lack the facilities to produce sufficient officers of local origin to fill vacancies created by the retirement of Senior Officers."

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