Page 171 of 259
316
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
if our debate here to-day is to serve a useful purpose and serve Hong Kong's best interests then there are a number of points which I respectfully put forward for serious examination by Government.
Inequitable remuneration for work was a root cause of the disturbances we have suffered over the last six months. No honest person can deny that there is a vast disparity between the wages of one man and the next here, very often within the same industry for the same work. Some slight effort has been made to redress this quite legitimate grievance. Yet in one of its recent awards Government has created a situation where one can legitimately wonder whether anything at all has been learned from the May disturbances. I refer to the award of increased pay to the rank and file of the Fire Services. No sincere person in Hong Kong to-day could have anything but the highest admiration for the Police Force here and I stand second to none in my admiration for them. Like any decent person I am pleased that the rank and file are getting an increase in wages. So, then, my remarks that follow are not intended as a criticism of the Force.
It strikes me as rather illogical and odd that when an award of a HK$100 per month increase is made to policemen; and that as an acknowledgement by the community of the splendid service rendered, often under the most difficult circumstances, by the force in preserving law and order; the award to Firemen in the Fire Services should only be HK$60 per month. If there is any body of men deserving of the community's appreciation surely our truly splendid Fire Services' personnel, constitute that body. During the recent disturbances the Firemen endured their share of hardship and attack. But this was over and above the risk to their lives that they endure 365 days of every year, when they mount a fire appliance in answer to an emergency call. For no body of people amongst us risk their lives daily in the ordinary course of their work as the Firemen do.
I could detail for you a very long list of catastrophes, natural and man-made that were handled fearlessly and expertly by the Fire Services without a thought of their own personal safety. I don't need to do this, your own memories should be as fresh on them as mine. The award of a mere HK$60 per month extra to these men after a service record such as they have is either deliberately discriminatory or was made without a sincere and close examination and comparison of the services rendered by these men. In either case it does not reflect well on Government. No doubt the statisticians and bureaucrats have a pile of weighty reasons for their decisions, but it well behoves nowadays to have our decisions tempered with a measure of prudence that will ensure their being easily understood by the ordinary citizen, the man in the street.
Arising out of this "right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing" situation which we so often meet in public affairs in Hong Kong I wish to raise a further point. Quite rightly Government is doing all it can to promote tourism in Hong Kong and spends large sums of public money in the process. Currently it is also endeavouring by every means to counteract abroad the idea that Hong Kong is a dangerous place to be in or that it is finished commercially.
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public money in the process. Currently it is also endeavouring by every means to counteract abroad the idea that Hong Kong is a dangerous place to be in or that it is finished commercially. I must confess that were I a visitor who arrived after nightfall and was accommodated in the Mandarin Hotel, I might be pardoned for believing on the next morning that Hong Kong was indeed finished, when I should cast my eyes over the waterfront scene at Blake Pier in the early morning. The unfinished reclamation would indicate quite clearly to any visitor from a developed country that here was a major piece of Public Works abandoned, never to be re-started again. As my tourist coach moved through the streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon the many unattended road-works would strengthen the impression that important Public Works had been abandoned as Government seemed to have no faith in the future of Hong Kong despite assurances to the contrary, which would quite rightly be put down by a visiting tourist as mere propaganda.
Some sort of radical re-assessment, in the light of the events of the past six months, will have to be made about Public Works priorities. I say this fully aware and appreciative of the magnificent work the Department of Public Works has done in the last decade. I reiterate that the Hong Kong of to-day is not the Hong Kong of last year and we must sincerely and realistically face up to the problems as we find them to-day and apply recognizable remedial action without delay. Problems like our traffic problem, which will always be with us, have assumed a greater urgency. Tying-in traffic relief with the development of the Wan Chai reclamation and Central District reclamation would show genuine confidence to tourist and resident alike. Such measures are badly needed now and any dragging of heels by Government now runs a much greater risk of misinterpretation than formerly.
Two further points, which have emerged as lessons from the disturbances, I wish to deal with. The first is Communications between Government and the people. That there has been a big information gap between Government and the common man is now recognized. The recent spate of forays of District Officers and other officials into remote villages bears out this as but a single case in point. But the primary communications difficulty is one of language. Perhaps nothing brings home more readily and convincingly even to us, directly connected with Government and aware of its problems, the tremendous amount of work done each year than the Annual Report of each Department. Yet not a single one of these is available in the Chinese Language. The Hong Kong Annual Report even is not available either in Chinese language form. Government should make facilities for translation and printing of these reports in the Chinese language available. I consider that this would go a very long way to gaining genuine understanding and sympathy from the ordinary people for Government. No effort must be spared at all levels to ensure that the widest possible publicity is given in the Chinese language to Government activities and
Page 172 of 259
Page 171 of 259
316
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
if our debate here to-day is to serve a useful purpose and serve Hong Kong's best interests then there are a number of points which I respect- fully put forward for serious examination by Government.
Inequitable remuneration for work was a root cause of the disturb- ances we have suffered over the last six months. No honest person can deny that there is a vast disparity between the wages of one man and the next here, very often within the same industry for the same work. Some slight effort has been made to redress this quite legitimate grievance. Yet in one of its recent awards Government has created a situation where one can legitimately wonder whether anything at all has been learned from the May disturbances. I refer to the award of increased pay to the rank and file of the Fire Services. No sincere person in Hong Kong to-day could have anything but the highest ad- miration for the Police Force here and I stand second to none in my admiration for them. Like any decent person I am pleased that the rank and file are getting an increase in wages. So, then, my remarks that follow are not intended as a criticism of the Force. It strikes me as rather illogical and odd that when an award of a HK$100 per month increase is made to policemen; and that as an acknowledgement by the community of the splendid service rendered, often under the most difficult circumstances, by the force in preserving law and order; the award to Firemen in the Fire Services should only be HK$60 per month. If there is any body of men deserving of the community's appreciation surely our truly splendid Fire Services' personnel, constitute that body. During the recent disturbances the Firemen endured their share of hard- ship and attack. But this was over and above the risk to their lives that they endure 365 days of every year, when they mount a fire appli- ance in answer to an emergency call. For no body of people amongst us risk their lives daily in the ordinary course of their work as the Firemen do. I could detail for you a very long list of catastrophies, natural and man-made that were handled fearlessly and expertly by the Fire Services without a thought of their own personal safety. I don't need to do this, your own memories should be as fresh on them as mine. The award of a mere HK$60 per month extra to these men after a service record such as they have is either deliberately discriminatory or was made without a sincere and close examination and comparison of the services rendered by these men. In either case it does not reflect well on Government. No doubt the statisticians and bureaucrats have a pile of weighty reasons for their decisions, but it well behoves nowadays to have our decisions tempered with a measure of prudence that will ensure their being easily understood by the ordinary citizen, the man in the street.
Arising out of this "right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing" situation which we so often meet in public affairs in Hong Kong I wish to raise a further point. Quite rightly Government is doing all it can to promote tourism in Hong Kong and spends large sums of
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
317
public money in the process. Currently it is also endeavouring by every means to counteract abroad the idea that Hong Kong is a dangerous place to be in or that it is finished commercially. I must confess that were I a visitor who arrived after nightfall and was accommodated in the Mandarin Hotel, I might be pardoned for believing on the next morning that Hong Kong was indeed finished, when I should cast my eyes over the waterfront scene at Blake Pier in the early morning. The unfinished reclamation would indicate quite clearly to any visitor from a developed country that here was a major piece of Public Works abandoned, never to be re-started again. As my tourist coach moved through the streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon the many unattended road-works would strengthen the impression that important Public Works had been abandoned as Government seemed to have no faith in the future of Hong Kong despite assurances to the contrary, which would quite rightly be put down by a visiting tourist as mere prop- aganda. Some sort of radical re-assessment, in the light of the events of the past six months, will have to be made about Public Works priorities. I say this fully aware and appreciative of the magnificent But work the Department of Public Works has done in the last decade. I reiterate that the Hong Kong of to-day is not the Hong Kong of last year and we must sincerely and realistically face up to the problems as we find them to-day and apply recognizable remedial action without delay. Problems like our traffic problem, which will always be with us, have assumed a greater urgency. Tieing-in traffic relief with the development of the Wan Chai reclamation and Central District reclama- tion would show genuine confidence to tourist and resident alike. Such measures are badly needed now and any dragging of heels by Govern- ment now runs a much greater risk of misinterpretation than formerly.
Two further points, which have emerged as lessons from the disturb- ances, I wish to deal with. The first is Communications between Government and the people. That there has been a big information gap between Government and the common man is now recognized. The recent spate of forays of District Officers and other officials into remote villages bears out this as but a single case in point. But the primary communications difficulty is one of language. Perhaps nothing brings home more readily and convincingly even to us, directly con- nected with Government and aware of its problems, the tremendous amount of work done each year than the Annual Report of each Department. Yet not a single one of these is available in the Chinese Language. The Hong Kong Annual Report even is not available either in Chinese language form. Government should make facilities for translation and printing of these reports in the Chinese language avail- able. I consider that this would go a very long way to gaining genuine understanding and sympathy from the ordinary people for Government. No effort must be spared at all levels to ensure that the widest possible publicity is given in the Chinese language to Government activities and
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