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Councils would get remuneration. No doubt the District Officers will bear this in mind and if they do want the Councillors to come to see them they will make it out of office hours. I support this Motion.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, as members are aware, for some time I have been in favour of an expansion of the liaison system of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, which has now blossomed out into the City District Officer system. The three officers which have been gazetted so far are all members, or have been members previously either of the Urban Council or the Resettlement Department and they are all well-known to the Unofficial Members. I for one am fairly confident that as between these senior officers and the Unofficial Members of the Council there will be close co-operation, but, as has already been hinted at, during this Council meeting, there is some confusion in the minds of the public as to the different districts—first of all you have a UMELCO office, now you have a Ward System, with ten different districts, and then we now have ten City District Officers with ten different divisions. Now I would be much happier if steps could be taken to have the geographic delineations of the ten Ward Offices correspond with those of the ten District Officers. This would simplify things in the minds of the public and I am sure it would be a first and very important step in promoting closer co-operation between the Unofficial Urban Councillors and the City District Officers. As I said a little while ago, I would eventually like to see the City District Officers acting as the executive arm of the Ward Office Councillors.
MRS. ELLIOTT: Mr. Chairman, much though I dislike to disappoint my friend, Mr. Henry Hu, whose views I often support, I must abstain from voting on this Motion. In the first place, I have from the beginning opposed the setting up of City District Officers on the grounds that they will only be an extension of the already top-heavy bureaucracy. If the departments that already exist ostensibly for liaison with the public cannot, or will not do the job, I fail to see how adding another set of Government officers is going to make any difference, except to waste taxpayers' money. It is, therefore, obvious that I am not prepared to ask for close co-operation with a system of which I do not approve. Moreover, we on the Urban Council should remain independent representatives of the people. Government servants, as we have already seen on this Council, must, on any vital issue, speak with the voice of the Government, but we Unofficials do not eat the Government's rice and we can speak with the voice of the people. What I am saying is not aimed at any person who may become a City District Officer, but I am convinced that even if the District Officers wish to help the people they will be even more limited than we are on this Council. If we cannot do much at least we can say what we think. I therefore end as I began by saying that I cannot ask the Government that the
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
City District Officer should co-operate with Councillors in Wards as I have no confidence in the Government's purpose in setting up this system.
MR. LI: Mr. Chairman, like Mrs. ELLIOTT, I am sorry I am not able to support the Motion and I must abstain from voting, although for a different reason. I have the reply to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's question, No. 10, by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and I quote, "I envisage City District Officers doing their best to co-operate with the Council in every way possible". By having the assurance, I myself think that the Motion put forward by Mr. Hu is quite unnecessary and for that reason I am sorry I have to abstain.
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS: Sir, it is inspiring and exciting indeed to hear so great an expectation expressed about the City District Officer scheme, when the scheme itself is still at its embryo stage. Only last week, in his Budget address at the Legislative Council, His Excellency the Governor referred to this scheme as one which we are about to launch. In terms of actual manpower posted to the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs for the planning of the scheme, we have so far only one and a half men on the job, in the persons of Mr. WEBB-JOHNSON and Mr. BRAY, the latter on part-time basis. We are listening, we are making a note of everything that has been said about the scheme, we are thinking very hard and we are keeping our minds wide open, but we have hardly drawn a stroke in actual planning, let alone implementation. Would it not therefore be too early for Government at this stage to issue a directive along the lines stated in the Motion before the Council. On the points raised by the earlier speakers, I may add the following points. Speaking as one who has had personal experience in the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs of having to deal with some 33 referral cases at the receiving end, I can claim to be one who is not only acquainted with the work that my unofficial colleagues are doing in the Ward Offices, but one who is also a great admirer of the way in which they devote their time and energy to this kind of work. It is certainly no part of our aim to hamper the good work the Ward Officers are doing, and if we can, or indeed if we are allowed to supplement it or to help it, we shall certainly do so. To my mind, in a city of 4 million people like ours, there is plenty of room for the 10 Ward Offices and the 10 District Offices not only to co-exist but also to co-operate. I had meant to say more but I've already covered this ground in reply to the earlier questions. Could it be the way with which the tasks set for the Urban Council, for the City District Officers, were formulated which might have given rise to a certain amount of anxiety. If this is so, I can assure my unofficial colleagues that it has never been, and it is not now, and I hope it will not be in the future, the intention of the Government to replace, supersede, or to duplicate the Urban Council Ward Offices. If anything, they are to supplement that system. To
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Councils would get remuneration. No doubt the District Officers will bear this in mind and if they do want the Councillors to come to see them they will make it out of office hours. I support this Motion.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, as members are aware, for some time I have been in favour of an expansion of the liaison system of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, which has now blossomed out into the City District Officer system. The three officers which have been gazetted so far are all members, or have been members previously either of the Urban Council or the Resettlement Department and they are all well-known to the Unofficial Members. I for one am fairly confident that as between these senior officers and the Unofficial Members of the Council there will be close co-operation, but, as has already been hinted at, during this Council meeting, there is some confusion in the minds of the public as to the different districts-first of all you have a UMELCO office, now you have a Ward System, with ten different districts, and then we now have ten City District Officers with ten different divisions. Now I would be much happier if steps could be taken to have the geographic delineations of the ten Ward Offices correspond with those of the ten District Officers. This would simplify things in the minds of the public and I am sure it would be a first and very important step in promoting closer co-operation between the Unofficial Urban Councillors and the City District Officers. As I said a little while ago, I would eventually like to see the City District Officers acting as the executive arm of the Ward Office Councillors.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, much though I dislike to dis- appoint my friend, Mr. Henry Hu, whose views I often support, I must abstain from voting on this Motion. In the first place, I have from the beginning opposed the setting up of City District Officers on the grounds that they will only be an extension of the already top-heavy bureaucracy. If the departments that already exist ostensibly for liaison with the public cannot, or will not do the job, I fail to see how adding another set of Government officers is going to make any difference, except to waste taxpayers' money. It is, therefore, obvious that I am not prepared to ask for close co-operation with a system of which I do not approve. Moreover, we on the Urban Council should remain independent re- presentatives of the people. Government servants, as we have already seen on this Council, must, on any vital issue, speak with the voice of the Government, but we Unofficials do not eat the Government's rice and we can speak with the voice of the people. What I am saying is not aimed at any person who may become a City District Officer, but I am convinced that even if the District Officers wish to help the people they will be even more limited than we are on this Council. If we cannot do much at least we can say what we think. I therefore end as I began by saying that I cannot ask the Government that the
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485
City District Officer should co-operate with Councillors in Wards as I have no confidence in the Government's purpose in setting up this system.
MR. LI: Mr. Chairman, like Mrs. ELLIOTT, I am sorry I am not able to support the Motion and I must abstain from voting, although for a different reason. I have the reply to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's question, No. 10, by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and I quote, "I envisage City District Officers doing their best to co-operate with the Council in every way possible". By having the assurance, I myself think that the Motion put forward by Mr. Hu is quite unnecessary and for that reason I am sorry I have to abstain.
SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS-Sir, it is inspiring and exiting indeed to hear so great an expectation expressed about the City District Officer scheme, when the scheme itself is still at its embryo stage. Only last week, in his Budget address at the Legislative Council, His Excel- lency the Governor referred to this scheme as one which we are about to launch. In terms of actual manpower posted to the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs for the planning of the scheme, we have so far only one and a half men on the job, in the persons of Mr. WEBB-JOHNSON and Mr. BRAY, the latter on part-time basis. We are listening, we are making a note of everything that has been said about the scheme, we are thinking very hard and we are keeping our minds wide open, but we have hardly drawn a stroke in actual planning, let alone implementa- tion. Would it not therefore be too early for Government at this stage to issue a directive along the lines stated in the Motion before the Council. On the points raised by the earlier speakers, I may add the following points. Speaking as one who has had personal experience in the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs of having to deal with some 33 referral cases at the receiving end, I can claim to be one who is not only acquainted with the work that my unofficial colleagues are doing in the Ward Offices, but one who is also a great admirer of the way in which they devote their time and energy to this kind of work. It is certainly no part of our aim to hamper the good work the Ward Officers are doing, and if we can, or indeed if we are allowed to supplement it or to help it, we shall certainly do so. To my mind, in a city of 4 million people like ours, there is plenty of room for the 10 Ward Offices and the 10 District Offices not only to co-exist but also to co-operate. I had meant to say a more but I've already covered this ground in reply to the earlier questions. Could it be the way with which the tasks set for the Urban Council, for the City District Officers, were formulated which might have given rise to a certain amount of anxiety. If this is so, I can assure my unofficial colleagues that it has never been, and it is not now, and I hope it will not be in the future, the intention of the Government to replace, supersede, or to duplicate the Urban Council Ward Offices. If anything, they are to supplement that system. To
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