HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
present hours, and to report his findings to the Library Select Committee. The Committee will then review the opening hours in the light of this information.
DR. HUANG:-Mr. Chairman, in the second paragraph, Mrs. ELLIOTT said "it is therefore a question of whether the expected public usage during the extended hours would justify the further expenditure involved". I think that there is a general feeling that there is a shortage of libraries, public or otherwise. I think we should make the best use of the public libraries, and I feel we should open them for longer periods so that our youth and the public generally can put their time to better use. I hope you will take my views into consideration.
MRS. ELLIOTT: --Mr. Chairman, may I answer that? Of course, as paragraph 2 says, if we find that the expense is worth while, the hours will be extended. You may be interested to hear that we did actually close the children's library earlier, beginning from March. We had a paper in March which showed that at 7.45 p.m. only one person was using the junior library, and we need to consider whether one person justifies all this extra expense. I do however assure Dr. HUANG that even if we experiment with one library, and find there is a need, the library will certainly have the hours extended.
MR. BERNACCHI:--That perhaps answers my supplementary question already, which was, could the Chairman of the Library Select Committee say why the junior or children's library is only kept open to 6 p.m. The answer perhaps is that after 6 p.m. it is infrequently used?
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, the answer is just so. We had a survey and discovered that the numbers trailed off after six o'clock. 6.15 seven children; 6.45 five, 7.15 two children, 7.45 one child.
MOTION.
MR. LI YIU-BOR addressed the Chairman and moved: -
That this Council endorse the Statement of Aims for 1968 and in particular emphasize the urgency for implementing Aim No. 24.
He said: Mr. Chairman, some time ago my Friend, Mr. Gerry FORSGATE, asked me whether I dyed my hair and I was not able to give him an answer. A few days later another friend told me quite bluntly that I had no white hair because I never used my brains. (Laughter). My answer to him was equally blunt, I did not use my brains because I did not have any. So, if my Friend, Mr. Wilfred WONG, expects any wisdom and wit from me in my speech to-day, I am afraid he might be disappointed, although he can have my blood at any time if it is at all suitable. (Laughter). Be that as it may.
Page 143 of 259
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
In the first place, Mr. Chairman, I should like to express my appreciation to the staff of your Department, the Resettlement Department, the Public Works Department and the Social Welfare Department for their co-operation in carrying out the statutory functions of this Council. Without this willing co-operation we could not have achieved what we did achieve during the year under review.
During the disturbances in May, the Unofficial Members of this Council were among the first to support Government's action to maintain law and order, and we will continue to do so because we believe that without law and order progress in any field of work for the betterment of the lot of the masses is impossible. Such support, however, should not prevent us from pointing out to Government its shortcomings as we have been able to see them, rightly or wrongly, and from making constructive suggestions for improvement.
As Mr. SALES remarked two years ago, the Annual Conventional Debate of this Council is a “field day” for Unofficial Members who may choose to speak on any subject they like. I have, however, no doubt that any criticism and suggestions made by them are in the interest of the public whom it is their duty to serve, and are therefore worthy of Government's serious consideration.
Many people have spoken before about the gap between Government and the people. As far as I am concerned, I am not over-worried about this gap which we all in Hong Kong are striving hard to bridge. I feel, however, very great concern indeed over another gap-the deplorable gap between the very rich and the abjectly poor in our community.
As I have said twice before, a community is not a happy or healthy community where the frightfully rich are living together with the frightfully poor. But what are we doing for the needy of Hong Kong? If we look at the Government budget for 1967/68, we shall see that the budget for the Social Welfare Department is merely $12,000,000.00 which, together with the amount allotted to Social Subventions, comes up to only $20,000,000.00. This figure represents slightly more than 1% of the overall budget for the Colony, if my calculations are not entirely wrong. Certainly, we can afford more than that in order to enable the Social Welfare Department to provide more social facilities for the people who need them.
No doubt, we have the Government Lotteries Fund and the donations from the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, but if we really want to provide adequate social services for the under-privileged, we must provide a much more generous budget for that important purpose, otherwise Government may be accused and quite rightly of failing in its duty in this regard. As things are, and as I see it, the Social Welfare Department is hamstrung by a lack of funds, and so are many reputable voluntary agencies which are rendering the community
Page 144 of 259
of 259
Page 142 of 259
258
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
present hours, and to report his findings to the Library Select Committee. The Committee will then review the opening hours in the light of this information.
DR. HUANG:-Mr. Chairman, in the second paragraph, Mrs. ELLIOTT said "it is therefore a question of whether the expected public usage during the extended hours would justify the further expenditure involved". I think that there is a general feeling that there is a shortage of libraries, public or otherwise. I think we should make the best use of the public libraries, and I feel we should open them for longer periods so that our youth and the public generally can put their time to better use. I hope you will take my views into consideration.
MRS. ELLIOTT: --Mr. Chairman, may I answer that? Of course, as paragraph 2 says, if we find that the expense is worth while, the hours will be extended. You may be interested to hear that we did actually close the childrens' library earlier, beginning from March. We had a paper in March which showed that at 7.45 p.m. only one person was using the junior library, and we need to consider whether one person justifies all this extra expense. I do however assure Dr. HUANG that even if we experiment with one library, and find there is a need, the library will certainly have the hours extended.
MR. BERNACCHI:--That perhaps answers my supplementary question already, which was, could the Chairman of the Library Select Committee say why the junior or childrens' library is only kept open to 6 p.m. The answer perhaps is that after 6 p.m. it is infrequently used?
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, the answer is just so. We had a survey and discovered that the numbers trailed off after six o'clock. 6.15 seven children; 6.45 five, 7.15 two children, 7.45 one child.
MOTION.
MR. LI YIU-BOR addressed the Chairman and moved: -
That this Council endorse the Statement of Aims for 1968 and in particular emphasize the urgency for implementing Aim No. 24.
He said:Mr. Chairman, some time ago my Friend, Mr. Gerry FORSGATE, asked me whether I dyed my hair and I was not able to give him an answer. A few days later another friend told me quite bluntly that I had no white hair because I never used my brains. (Laughter). My answer to him was equally blunt, I did not use my brains because I did not have any. So, if my Friend, Mr. Wilfred WONG, expects any wisdom and wit from me in my speech to-day, I am afraid he might be disappointed, although he can have my blood at any time if it is at all suitable. (Laughter). Be that as it may.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
259
In the first place, Mr. Chairman, I should like to express my appreciation to the staff of your Department, the Resettlement Depart- ment, the Public Works Department and the Social Welfare Department for their co-operation in carrying out the statutory functions of this Council. Without this willing co-operation we could not have achieved what we did achieve during the year under review.
During the disturbances in May, the Unofficial Members of this Council were among the first to support Government's action to main- tain law and order, and we will continue to do so because we believe that without law and order progress in any field of work for the better- ment of the lot of the masses is impossible. Such support, however, should not prevent us from pointing out to Government its shortcomings as we have been able to see them, rightly or wrongly, and from making constructive suggestions for improvement.
As Mr. SALES remarked two years ago, the Annual Conventional Debate of this Council is a “field day” for Unofficial Members who may choose to speak on any subject they like. I have, however, no doubt that any criticism and suggestions made by them are in the interest of the public whom it is their duty to serve, and are therefore worthy of Government's serious consideration.
Many people have spoken before about the gap between Govern- ment and the people. As far as I am concerned, I am not over-worried about this gap which we all in Hong Kong are striving hard to bridge. I feel, however, very great concern indeed over another gap-the deplor- able gap between the very rich and the abjectly poor in our community.
As I have said twice before, a community is not a happy or healthy community where the frightfully rich are living together with the fright- fully poor. But what are we doing for the needy of Hong Kong? If we look at the Government budget for 1967/68, we shall see that the budget for the Social Welfare Department is merely $12,000,000.00 which, together with the amount allotted to Social Subventions, comes up to only $20,000,000.00. This figure represents slightly more than 1% of the overall budget for the Colony, if my calculations are not entirely wrong. Certainly, we can afford more than that in order to enable the Social Welfare Department to provide more social facilities for the people who need them.
No doubt, we have the Government Lotteries Fund and the dona- tions from the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, but if we really want to provide adequate social services for the under-privileged, we must provide a much more generous budget for that important purpose, otherwise Government may be accused and quite rightly of failing in its duty in this regard. As things are, and as I see it, the Social Welfare Department is hamstrung by a lack of funds, and so are many reputable voluntary agencies which are rendering the community
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