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Urban Council, we cannot expect them to have a real interest in its elections, its function and in its improvement. To let the public under- stand the Council is a basic and fundamental matter. It seems that the Government is now not in a hurry to carry out any reforms, local or otherwise. I think my learned colleague, Mr. SALES, will agree with me that we should take advantage of this gap in time to educate the public on our Council. It is high time, Mr. Chairman, to set up a Select Committee in our Council to study and implement any measures in order to convey the correct image of the Council's work to the public.

CHAIRMAN: -May I interrupt you, Sir? It seems a favourable point in your speech for me to stand up and enquire whether or not you are speaking to the motion which Mr. SALES has proposed, which is "that the subject of debate be referred back to the Standing Com- mittee of the Whole Council". You could perhaps, in clarification at this stage, say that you do or do not favour referring the subject of debate back to the Standing Committee, and then you may proceed with your speech.

MR. HU:-Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I do suggest that this Select Committee should be set up without any delay, because time is rather short and we should take advantage of the gap in time. Mr. SALES wants the public to understand the Report on the future of the Urban Council. How can they take an interest in reading this report if they are not informed of what the real work of the Urban Council is? I respectfully suggest that the Ward system is not sufficient. I serve in two Ward offices every week and what I can explain to the public is very limited. If they do not come to our Wards, how can we explain to them? Again, if they come to us, it is rather in the nature of a complaint, Mr. Chairman, or they want the Urban Council to help them. They come to see us, not because they do not understand the Urban Council, but because they want our help, and the help we can give is limited. As a matter of fact, the public do not understand a great deal about our work. Therefore, whilst waiting for any reform, we should take advantage of the gap in time and set up the Select Committee without any delay. If we refer the matter to the Standing Committee of the Whole, it would probably delay it by one or two months. If we want to set up a Select Com- mittee, we should set it up now. If we do not want to set it up, let us defeat this motion now. With these remarks, Sir, I have pleasure in supporting Mr. Brook BERNACCHI's motion.

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, may I avail myself of the Standing Orders to rise for a personal explanation. It is very unfortunate that Mr. Henry Hu was away when I spoke and I elaborated on the reason why I favoured referring this matter to the Standing Committee of the Whole Council for consideration at the appropriate time. It is not my intention to make the speech all over again, but I do suggest to Mr.

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Henry Hu that he has hurt me very deeply by misunderstanding me. (Laughter). I did not suggest at any time that I was not sympathetic with this motion. In point of fact, I said at the start that I subscribed to everything that Mr. BERNACCHI said. It was only a question of timing, and I do think that it is far more important at this stage for Members of the Urban Council to concentrate on the Ad Hoc Com- mittee to which each Member has been given an assignment in a sub- committee, than to tackle this additional and important work, which would gain by our being able to give it all the attention that it deserves at the right time. We might not even set up an Ad Hoc Committee. We might consider setting up a Public Relations Select Committee of the Urban Council when the 1st April comes round and the new Select Committees are re-constituted.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I rise to speak on the motion as amended.

CHAIRMAN: Sir, I do not believe that the motion has been amended. This is a new motion.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-I beg your pardon, Sir, I accept your clarifica- tion as being correct.

I do support what Mr. BERNACCHI said that there should be a correct image on the part of the public as to what this Council and the Departments which are under this Council are doing. The Urban Council, the Urban Services Department and the Resettlement Depart- ment comprise the largest group in the Government service. They are even larger than the police. If the police have their own Public Relations or Press Officer, I see no reason why this Council should not have its own Public Relations Officer. As a matter of fact, both Mr. SALES and I, several years ago, did make a specific suggestion along these lines, and if my memory serves me correctly, there was some very hard lobbying done by the then Director of Information Services that due to the serious shortage of staff in his Department, it would be most helpful if we could delay this proposal for a short period of time. Now, I think it is the right time that we should put forward this as a specific recommendation to Government. I think the time has come when this Council, because its work emanates into every aspect of the daily lives of Hong Kong citizens, should consider having its own Public Relations Section, and preferably by having the Government Informa- tion Services second one of their Senior Officers to the Urban Council to serve the departments which are under the Council. I think these are matters which cannot be fully discussed to-day, and it would naturally be more constructive if they could be discussed at the next Standing Committee of the Whole Council.

Mr. SALES has certainly made a point concerning the need for the four sub-committees, which have already been agreed upon, to go ahead

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