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estates instead of what Mr. BARTY told us in the last paragraph of his reply last year?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:—Mr. Chairman, that question seems to be inviting me to express an opinion.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, may I ask the question, is it Government policy that this matter should be Colony-wide instead of being concentrated in the resettlement areas?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: -Yes, Sir, that was one of the things I said when I answered a similar question last March.
MR. HU:-May I voice my view through you Mr. Chairman? This is not the right policy for Government, because vocational training is mostly needed in Resettlement Estates and it is easier to carry this policy out. If the Government do not carry this policy out through the Resettlement Estates, I would ask Government where they would start to carry out this plan?
MR. BERNACCHI:—Am I right in supposing that one out of every four of the residents of Hong Kong now live in Resettlement Estates?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Yes, approximately.
MR. BERNACCHI:--Then, surely, it is appropriate to have these schools provided also in Resettlement Estates?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-It might also be appropriate, Mr. Chairman, in that case to have swimming pools, police stations, hospitals and anything you like in Resettlement Estates and there would be no open space left for the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee to provide recreation grounds.
MR. BERNACCHI-Perhaps our whole resettlement policy has become too big for the present set-up, and individual townships should be provided with every amenity.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: -That sounds, Mr. Chairman, as if we are getting back to the idea of not trying to integrate the resettlement populations with the general population, but trying to make them into closed and self-sustaining communities in themselves, inward looking and cut off from the rest of the population.
CHAIRMAN: --I think we have got far enough away from the original question.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask you if to train young people by way of vocational training instead of training them for proper jobs, if that training is not given in Resettlement Estates, would it be outside the jurisdiction of the Urban Council?
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CHAIRMAN:-Sir, as a matter of fact, vocational training is outside the jurisdiction of the Urban Council. You have partly put it inside by referring to vocational training in Resettlement Estates.
MR. HU:-Except that, Mr. Chairman, we would say that we want these things to be started in the Resettlement Estates, otherwise we have no right to ask questions. (Laughter).
(10) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-
After the simultaneous translation experiment held on the 7th October, 1966 would the Chairman please inform the Council what steps have been or will be taken to adopt the simultaneous translation system in the Council's debates?
MR. WILFRED S. B. WONG, CHAIRMAN OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION, replied as follows:·
Most Members will recall that following the experiment referred to in the question, the matter was carefully and fully discussed by the Standing Committee of the Whole on two separate occasions. The last occasion was in March 1967, when it was agreed by a majority vote to refer the matter to the Sub-Committee on Organization, of which I am Chairman. My Committee has met on several occasions since March 1967 but has, so far, concentrated on an organization for a Greater Hong Kong Council and District Councils which is, of course, the main function of my Committee. However, my Committee has discussed the question of simultaneous translation very briefly, but until we come to a decision on the matter I regret that I am unable to say what steps will be taken to adopt a simultaneous translation system in the Council's proceedings.
MR. HU:-I would like to thank Mr. WONG for the answer and for the effort he has made for the simultaneous translation. May I ask Mr. WONG through you, Mr. Chairman, is he aware that it would be the unanimous demand of the young intellectuals in Hong Kong that Chinese should be one of the official languages.
MR. WONG:Sir, I am very much aware of the problem and in connection with it I can say that in our deliberations-some members of my sub-committee feel that we should permit non-English speaking people to stand for election, even if it is not possible to introduce simultaneous translation. That is to say, that Chinese might be intro-
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estates instead of what Mr. BARTY told us in the last paragraph of his reply last year?
COMMISSIONER for ResettlemeNT:—Mr. Chairman, that question seems to be inviting me to express an opinion.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, may I ask the question, is it Government policy that this matter should be Colony-wide instead of being con- centrated in the resettlement areas?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: -Yes, Sir, that was one of the things I said when I answered a similar question last March.
MR. HU:-May I voice my view through you Mr. Chairman? This is not the right policy for Government, because vocational training is mostly needed in Resettlement Estates and it is easier to carry this policy out. If the Government do not carry this policy out through the Resettlement Estates, I would ask Government where they would start to carry out this plan?
MR. BERNACCHI:—Am I right in supposing that one out of every four of the residents of Hong Kong now live in Resettlement Estates?
COMMISSIONER For ResettlemenT:-Yes, approximately.
MR. BERNACCHI:--Then, surely, it is appropriate to have these schools provided also in Resettlement Estates?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-It might also be appropriate, Mr. Chairman, in that case to have swimming pools, police stations, hospitals and anything you like in Resettlement Estates and there would be no open space left for the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee to provide recreation grounds.
MR. BERNACCHI-Perhaps our whole resettlement policy has become too big for the present set-up, and individual townships should be provided with every amenity.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: -That sounds, Mr. Chairman, as if we are getting back to the idea of not trying to integrate the resettlement populations with the general population, but trying to make them into closed and self-sustaining communities in themselves, inward looking and cut off from the rest of the population.
CHAIRMAN: --I think we have got far enough away from the original question.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask you if to train young people by way of vocational training instead of training them for proper jobs, if that training is not given in Resettlement Estates, would it be outside the jurisdiction of the Urban Council?
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433
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, as a matter of fact, vocational training is outside
the jurisdiction of the Urban Council. You have partly put it inside by referring to vocational training in Resettlement Estates.
MR. HU:-Except that, Mr. Chairman, we would say that we want these things to be started in the Resettlement Estates, otherwise we have no right to ask questions. (Laughter).
(10) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-
After the simultaneous translation experiment held on the 7th October, 1966 would the Chairman please inform the Council what steps have been or will be taken to adopt the simultaneous translation system in the Council's debates?
MR. WILFRED S. B. WONG, CHAIRMAN OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION, replied as follows:·
Most Members will recall that following the experiment referred to in the question, the matter was carefully and fully dis- cussed by the Standing Committee of the Whole on two separate occasions. The last occasion was in March 1967, when it was agreed by a majority vote to refer the matter to the Sub-Committee on Organization, of which I am Chairman. My Committee has met on several occasions since March 1967 but has, so far, concentrated on an organization for a Greater Hong Kong Council and District Councils which is, of course, the main function of my Committee. However, my Committee has discussed the question of simultaneous translation very briefly, but until we come to a decision on the matter I regret that I am unable to say what steps will be taken to adopt
a simultaneous translation system in the Council's pro- ceedings.
MR. HU:-I would like to thank Mr. WONG for the answer and for the effort he has made for the simultaneous translation. May I ask Mr. WONG through you, Mr. Chairman, is he aware that it would be the unanimous demand of the young intellectuals in Hong Kong that Chinese should be one of the official languages.
MR. WONG:Sir, I am very much aware of the problem and in connection with it I can say that in our deliberations-some members of my sub-committee feel that we should permit non-English speaking people to stand for election, even if it is not possibly to introduce simultaneous translation. That is to say, that Chinese might be intro-
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