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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I believe and I suspect that this suggestion which was put to Government was not within the experience of the establishment section of the Colonial Secretariat. It was a novel idea, they did not take to it as quickly as they might have done in the employment of clerks, typists, etc. of whom we've got a surfeit apparently. Now, this matter should have been taken in hand immediately because it was clear for everyone to see that with the vast development of our recreation programme there would be the need for the management to be ready at the time that these facilities became available to the public and, in fact, Government has been caught short.
In
DR. BELL:—Mr. Chairman, could I ask a supplementary? view of the fact that this was asked for before, perhaps they've forgotten-could you remind them that this was asked for and say we would like to have an answer as to when it will actually take place?
CHAIRMAN:-I don't think it's been forgotten Dr. BELL, and, as I explained to Mr. BERNACCHI, until we ourselves go forward with firm proposals of the kind of chap we want and what we want him to do. I don't see how Government can move very far on this.
MR. SALES-Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry, you have been misinformed, it isn't as if this Select Committee did not go forward with firm proposals. I even spelt out the type of qualifications I thought this officer should have. The officer I had in view was to have been described as the Principal Recreation Officer of the Urban Council. But as I said, this matter was evidently outside the experience of those "tin gods" and so it has been deferred.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Does Mr. SALES then mean that this Council's decisions get shelved because we have no control over the staff, or the required staff, on the ground, necessary to carry out our existing policies?
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, it is; so much as that we do not have the properly trained staff that we ought to have available for servicing the magnificent, shall we say, recreational facilities which the Council is developing in the years immediately ahead.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Then, Mr. Chairman, I can only ask you to put forward to Government very strongly the requirement that there must be the necessary ground staff to carry out the existing policies of this Council in matters over which this Council has jurisdiction.
(14) DR. A. M. S. BELL asked the following question:
(a) It has been officially announced through Government Information Services that the number of eligible voters is about 200,000 on what is this figure based?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
33
(b) Has any allowance been given for duplication, aliases etc.?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL replied as follows:-
These questions concern the electoral roll for Urban Council elections, the authority for preparing the register being the Commissioner of Registration.
I have consulted the Commissioner of Registration and the answers to these questions are as follows: ---
In January, 1968 an exercise was conducted to try to estimate the total number of persons who could claim electoral registration and figures were based on:-
(i) replies received from various Government Departments and local organizations, i.e. :-the Defence Force and Auxiliary Services, the Treasury, Agriculture and Fisheries, Civil Aviation, Post Office, Medical and Health, Rating and Valuation and Education Departments, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong and professional institutions and bodies; and
(ii) details available from lists of names of Barristers, Solicitors, Doctors, Dentists, Pharmacists, Ships' Officers, Nurses, Midwives, Justices of the Peace, Architects and Auditors, and details of the number of persons on the pensionable establishment of the Civil Service. These lists are published in the Gazette or other Government publications from time to time.
The total figure was 442,230 persons.
Since a large number of potential electors could claim registration under several categories of the franchise (e.g. an Architect might claim registration as (i) a juror, (ii) an authorized architect, (iii) a member of a professional institution, (iv) a university graduate, (v) a holder of a G.C.E. Certificate, (vi) a ratepayer or (vii) a taxpayer), a generous allowance was made for overlapping and aliases and it was thought that if all eligible persons did register, they might total somewhere in the region of 200,000 persons. It is difficult to give an accurate forecast of the total number of persons eligible for registration.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, on the figures that you have given here, where you suggested that one person might come under 7 categories, how did they arrive at 200,000? I mean did they divide by 7 because otherwise my arithmetic is different?
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I believe and I suspect that this suggestion which was put to Govern- ment was not within the experience of the establishment section of the Colonial Secretariat. It was a novel idea, they did not take to it as quickly as they might have done in the employment of clerks, typists, etc. of whom we've got a surfeit apparently. Now, this matter should have been taken in hand immediately because it was clear for everyone to see that with the vast development of our recreation programme there would be the need for the management to be ready at the time that these facilities became available to the public and, in fact, Govern- ment has been caught short.
In
DR. BELL:—Mr. Chairman, could I ask a supplementary? view of the fact that this was asked for before, perhaps they've for- gotten-could you remind them that this was asked for and say we would like to have an answer as to when it will actually take place?
CHAIRMAN:-I don't think it's been forgotten Dr. BELL, and, as
I explained to Mr. BERNACCHI, until we ourselves go forward with firm proposals of the kind of chap we want and what we want him to do. I don't see how Government can move very far on this.
MR. SALES-Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry, you have been misin- formed, it isn't as if this Select Committee did not go forward with firm proposals. I even spelt out the type of qualifications I thought this officer should have. The officer I had in view was to have been described as the Principal Recreation Officer of the Urban Council. But as I said, this matter was evidently outside the experience of those "tin gods" and so it has been deferred.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Does Mr. SALES then mean that this Council's decisions get shelved because we have no control over the staff, or the required staff, on the ground, necessary to carry out our existing policies?
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, it is; so much as that we do not have the properly trained staff that we ought to have available for servicing the magnificent, shall we say, recreational facilities which the Council is developing in the years immediately ahead.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Then, Mr. Chairman, I can only ask you to put forward to Government very strongly the requirement that there must be the necessary ground staff to carry out the existing policies of this Council in matters over which this Council has jurisdiction.
(14) DR. A. M. S. BELL asked the following question:
(a) It has been officially announced through Government Information Services that the number of eligible voters is about 200,000 on what is this figure based?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
33
(b) Has any allowance been given for duplication, aliases
etc.?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL replied as follows:-
These questions concern the electoral roll for Urban Council elections, the authority for preparing the register being the Commissioner of Registration.
I have consulted the Commissioner of Registration and the
answers to these questions are as follows: ---
In January, 1968 an exercise was conducted to try to estimate the total number of persons who could claim electoral registration and figures were based on:-
(i) replies received from various Government Depart-
ments and local organizations, i.e. :-the Defence Force and Auxiliary Services, the Treasury, Agricul- ture and Fisheries, Civil Aviation, Post Office, Medical and Health, Rating and Valuation and Education Departments, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong and pro- fessional institutions and bodies; and
(ii) details available from lists of names of Barristers, Solicitors, Doctors, Dentists, Pharmacists, Ships' Officers, Nurses, Midwives, Justices of the Peace, Architects and Auditors, and details of the number of persons on the pensionable establishment of the Civil Service. These lists are published in the Gazette or other Government publications from time to time.
The total figure was 442,230 persons.
Since a large number of potential electors could claim registra- tion under several categories of the franchise (e.g. an Architect might claim registration as (i) a juror, (ii) an authorized architect, (iii) a member of a professional institution, (iv) a university graduate, (v) a holder of a G.C.E. Certificate, (vi) a ratepayer or (vii) a taxpayer), a generous allowance was made for overlapping and aliases and it was thought that if all eligible persons did register, they might total somewhere in the region of 200,000 persons. It is difficult to give an accurate fore- cast of the total number of persons eligible for registra- tion.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, on the figures that you have given here, where you suggested that one person might come under 7 catego- ries, how did they arrive at 200,000? I mean did they divide by 7 because otherwise my arithmetic is different?
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