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CHAIRMAN: -(To the Hansard Reporter). Do you have the last question from Mr. CHEONG-LEEN?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN said, I recall, that the reply given by Mr. Paul Tsui appeared to duplicate the functions which the elected members are required to perform in the Wards, and I would like Mr. CHEONG-LEEN to clarify to this Council that in point of fact-it is not his intention to suggest to this Council, as the question appears to imply, that only elected members work in this Council's Wards.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I would be glad to do that especially since Mr. SALES seems to be rather touchy at today's Council meeting. I mentioned it in the context that elected members of this Council do perform, in some ways, a political function and to that extent this dovetails with or duplicates the efforts of what the political officers or district officers are doing-it in no way derogates from or reflects upon the efforts of the appointed members, and I am rather surprised that Mr. SALES should be so touchy about it, especially since we all know the tremendous effort he puts in as an appointed member, and quite often we have agreed that he acts almost like an elected member sometimes (Laughter) Mr. Chairman, may I finish my speech-
CHAIRMAN:-This is question time. (Laughter).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, when Mr. SALES asks a question he requires a speech to answer him otherwise he'll not be satisfied, but I give him my assurance that since he and I are on the Tsimshatsui Ward together we share our efforts jointly in serving the public and I don't think that we need take this any further. Now, may I continue with my supplementary Mr. Chairman?
MR. SALES: May I have your permission to clarify the position. It wasn't about my work that I was thinking. It is in relation to the work of the 10 appointed members all in their respective Wards—some of them put in a tremendous amount of time, far more than I do, and I have seen their files and I've seen them at work and I think that it is only fair when we discuss this matter of Ward system we should think of 20 Unofficial Members and not 10 elected, or 10 appointed.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I am very happy that Mr. SALES would like to be included in the broadest category of "Unofficial" and, as I repeat, I was referring to this in a political sense, and I assure him that this is in no way derogatory to the work of the appointed members. May I proceed now, Mr. Chairman, with one more supplementary. Is there any duplication in the geographic location of the 10 Wards of the Urban Council and the 10 District Officers of the District Office system?
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SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS:-Our intention, Sir, is to have our districts according to the Police districts-I am not fully aware of the boundaries of the Ward system.
CHAIRMAN:-As far as I recall we fairly recently amended some Ward boundaries to accord with the Census district boundaries.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, is there any significance that these District Officers should work according to Police boundaries--we've had the assurance before that this is not a Police state but why should they then go according to Police standards?
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS: -Sir, we are still studying this whole matter very carefully. There is no magic in the precise location of the boundaries at all, so long as we have ten areas. The Police district boundary might be as good as any; we are not committed to it at this stage but we are only thinking along those lines.
DR. BELL:-Mr. Chairman, could I ask you a question in connection with that? I wonder if the District Officers are aware that if they follow the Police boundaries in some areas they'll find that someone who lives on one side of the street will belong to one District Officer whilst someone on the opposite side of the street will belong to another. This is because Police boundaries tend to go down the middle of a road, for example Prince Edward Road.
CHAIRMAN: ---Mr. Tsui will note that.
MR. SALES: --Mr. Chairman, may I suggest that Mr. Henry Hu looks terribly dejected-we are anticipating his Motion and I suggest that no further supplementaries be asked. (Laughter).
MR. HU:-At first I would ask a supplementary (Laughter) Mr. Chairman. Could you tell us when these two questions of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN were submitted to the Council?
CHAIRMAN:-I don't have that information in my possession at the moment.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Could that information be supplied, Mr. Chairman, because I was wondering which went in first, my questions or Mr. Hu's Motion?
CHAIRMAN: ---From memory, they came in on the same day, and it was the last day before the limit for questions but not the last day for the limit for Motions. May we proceed to Motions now. (Laughter).
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Page 251 of 259
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN: -(To the Hansard Reported). Do you have the last question from Mr. CHEONG-LEEN?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN said, I recall, that the reply given by Mr. Paul Tsui appeared to duplicate the functions which the elected members are required to perform in the Wards, and I would like Mr. CHEONG-LEEN to clarify to this Council that in point of fact-it is not his intention to suggest to this Council, as the question appears to imply, that only elected members work in this Council's Wards.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I would be glad to do that especially since Mr. SALES seems to be rather touchy at today's Council meeting. I mentioned it in the context that elected members of this Council do perform, in some ways, a political function and to that extent this dovetails with or duplicates the efforts of what the political officers or district officers are doing-it in no way derogates from or reflects upon the efforts of the appointed members, and I am rather surprised that Mr. SALES should be so touchy about it, especially since we all know the tremendous effort he puts in as an appointed member, and quite often we have agreed that he acts almost like an elected member sometimes (Laughter) Mr. Chairman, may I finish my speech-
CHAIRMAN:-This is question time. (Laughter).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, when Mr. SALES asks a ques- tion he requires a speech to answer him otherwise he'll not be satisfied, but I give him my assurance that since he and I are on the Tsimshatsui Ward together we share out efforts jointly in serving the public and I don't think that we need take this any further. Now, may I continue with my supplementary Mr. Chairman?
MR. SALES: May I have your permission to clarify the position. It wasn't about my work that I was thinking. It is in relation to the work of the 10 appointed members all in their respective Wards—some of them put in a tremendous amount of time, far more than I do, and I have seen their files and I've seen them at work and I think that it is only fair when we discuss this matter of Ward system we should think of 20 Unofficial Members and not 10 elected, or 10 appointed.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I am very happy that Mr. SALES would like to be included in the broadest category of "Unofficial" and, as I repeat, I was referring to this in a political sense, and I assure him that this is in no way derogatory to the work of the appointed members. May I proceed now, Mr. Chairman, with one more supple- mentary. Is there any duplication in the geographic location of the 10 Wards of the Urban Council and the 10 District Officers of the District Office system?
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477
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS:-Our intention, Sir, is to have our districts according to the Police districts-I am not fully aware of the boundaries of the Ward system.
CHAIRMAN:-As far as I recall we fairly recently amended some Ward boundaries to accord with the Census district boundaries.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, is there any significance that these District Officers should work according to Police boundaries--we've had the assurance before that this is not a Police state but why should they then go according to Police standards?
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS: -Sir, we are still studying this whole matter very carefully. There is no magic in the precise location The Police of the boundaries at all, so long as we have ten areas. district boundary might be as good as any; we are not committed to it at this stage but we are only thinking along those lines.
DR. BELL:-Mr. Chairman, could I ask you a question in connection with that? I wonder if the District Officers are aware that if they follow the Police boundaries in some areas they'll find that someone who lives on one side of the street will belong to one District Officer whilst someone on the opposite side of the street will belong to another. This is because Police boundaries tend to go down the middle of a road, for example Prince Edward Road.
CHAIRMAN: ---Mr. TsUI will note that.
MR. SALES: --Mr. Chairman, may I suggest that Mr. Henry Hu looks terribly dejected-we are anticipating his Motion and I suggest that no further supplementaries be asked. (Laughter).
MR. HU:-At first I would ask a supplementary (Laughter) Mr. Chairman. Could you tell us when these two questions of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN were submitted to the Council?
CHAIRMAN:-I don't have that information in my possession at the moment.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Could that information be supplied, Mr. Chairman, because I was wondering which went in first, my questions or Mr. Hu's Motion?
CHAIRMAN: ---From memory, they came in on the same day, and
it was the last day before the limit for questions but not the last day for the limit for Motions. May we proceed to Motions now. (Laughter).
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.