1968 — Page 139

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

What is the result? Sir, even a casual observer of the local scene can see that Hong Kong is now paying the price in the shortage of properly qualified staff for our schools, hospitals, etc. and will soon do so in our sports grounds and other recreational facilities. For it is true that the point will be reached very soon when we will have the physical facilities but not the trained staff who will organize their use for the benefit and enjoyment of the local people. Mr. Chairman, so far we have managed because of the good work of our staff who have put in considerable overtime. Were it not so, we might not have succeeded in carrying out our very ambitious special programmes last summer which gave such fun and entertainment to many thousands of our youth.

We have unfailingly emphasized the need for our authorities to do far more for physical education. This section of the Education Department must be greatly reinforced. It must be capable of carrying out extensive programmes not only during school periods but throughout the year, and be ready to go beyond its normal responsibilities so as to lend support to the Urban Services Department as well as to the many sports organizations in Hong Kong which for ever so long have depended entirely on the service of a handful of dedicated people in each case.

Through sport, Mr. Chairman, the opportunity has been created in the last twenty years or so to instil in youth a sense of belonging to Hong Kong. This has been done virtually by private endeavour although by any standard the public authorities should have taken the initiative or been the instigator, but lamentably this has not been the case. This territorial identity is bound to awaken in young people a sense of local pride and attachment so far conspicuously absent in the mass of our people. It is useless to deplore the lack of civic consciousness unless the Government makes it a point of policy to foster the spirit of pride in belonging to Hong Kong. It seems that more public money, Mr. Chairman, is spent on promotions of all sorts abroad and hardly anything by comparison to secure the home-front and to identify the Government with the people as one.

Local Administration

Mr. Chairman, the Urban Council has not been idle since the issue of the Ad Hoc Committee's Report in 1966. The four Sub-Committees of the Local Administration Select Committee have met and deliberated on the assignments given to them. Their opinions have been considered by the Local Administration Select Committee as have the Report of the Government Working Party and the Dickinson Revised Recommendations. Recently, our Elected Colleagues deemed fit to make their own recommendations. This document is now known among us as the Elected Members' Manifesto.

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The Select Committee will draw up a programme for Council's consideration. It is intended to set out the timing and the phasing of the transfer of the responsibilities which the Council has suggested should be entrusted to local administration. We might well start with financial responsibility for the Urban Services Department by sharing in the rates, which is the traditional course to follow. The point remains that time and again the Council has proposed the enlargement of its scope and the extension of its services to the public in an effort to attract responsible public interest in local affairs but more particularly to improve the structure of an outmoded local administration so as to better serve the public in our present circumstances. However, we want to go forward in a carefully thought-out manner. In the event, such measures as might be put into practice would cause no disruption in the period of transition. Mr. Chairman, for this Council must build, not destroy.

At the same time, in our circumstances the initiative must lie with the Central Government. So there can be little justification for the apparent lack of positive action on the part of the Government. True, we have heard much talk even in high places. Surely, Sir, a little action at a time is easy enough to take. But, Mr. Chairman, is there the will to act?

The guidelines are now much clearer than in the years immediately after the Liberation. Let the Government abandon the old, discredited colonial policy: divide and rule. There is some suspicion in this Council that the Government is still toying with the idea of setting up a split structure so as to weaken the local administration. This, Mr. Chairman, would be bad faith, if true. It would be disastrous for the orderly development of our public administration and it would not be good for the people of Hong Kong. It would be contrary to the public interest to destroy this Council or even to reduce its powers or its territorial responsibility. The emergence of this Council in public affairs cannot be gainsaid. Mr. Chairman, let the Government also build, not destroy.

The public interest is at stake in a vital issue so action cannot be put off much longer. It would be flying in the face of truth to suggest that the public is not interested in the administration of its own affairs because with growing enlightenment and rising aspirations, there must inevitably be a desire to have a stronger voice in the administration. This is a natural trend and cannot be resisted, here as elsewhere. Otherwise, friction might arise, and historically the concessions that would then have to be made would unfailingly be more than the steady progress that ought to be the result of careful planning and intelligent execution. So, Mr. Chairman, let the Government step boldly into 1969-building, not destroying.

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