1972 — Page 19

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

MRS. ELLIOTT:--Mr. Chairman, I cannot rise to Mr. BERNACCHI'S heights of oratory, but I would like to associate myself with his opinion, and I think that the ones who proposed this motion did not think it through. I suggest that we now consider what Mr. BERNACCHI has said, and the motions that will be ruled out of this Council if we accept this motion today. I support Mr. BERNACCHI and oppose the motion.

MR. LO TAK-SHING:-May I refer Members to Standing Order No. 25 under which, so long as more than half the Members of this Council are present, they may move to suspend Standing Orders, and so therefore the fears which were expressed so eloquently by Mr. BERNACCHI can hardly come to pass. I support the motion, opposed by Mr. BERNACCHI.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I have listened with great respect and attention to Mr. BERNACCHI's eulogy of a past colleague of this Council, Dr. Raymond LEE. Many of us were on the Council when Dr. LEE was a Member, and we found that he was a most dedicated and sincere Elected Urban Councillor. At the same time, I also do appreciate the strength with which Mr. BERNACCHI has spoken on this motion, since after all, next year is election year. The White Paper prepared by the Colonial Secretariat did propose that the Council's Standing Orders should be subject to approval by the Legislative Council. This, as Members will recall, was strenuously objected to by the Council, and as it was comparatively a relatively minor matter, the Colonial Secretariat did agree to withdraw this control on the Urban Council. On the other hand, as a quid pro quo, the Urban Council of its own accord, by an overwhelming majority decision, decided to amend Standing Order 10(1) to confine all motions to matters within the jurisdiction of the Council.

There are indications, and I hope that these indications will prove correct, that the Colonial Secretariat will not lose its equilibrium if the Urban Council should carry on as usual and have its free ranging Annual Conventional Debate on various subjects at the debate on the Statement of Aims which takes place towards the end of every year. Yet, even without the Annual Conventional Debate, which I hope will continue as in the past, there are some very challenging tasks for which the Urban Council is responsible and which require the undivided and dedicated attention of all Urban Councillors. Here are some of these responsibilities:

(1) Getting the "Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign" off the ground and doing a successful job in making Hong Kong cleaner and less filthy looking;

(2) Improving the hygienic standards of restaurants, many of which operate in an undescribably unhygienic condition;

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(3) Establish firmer and more effective systems of management in all matters relating to the hawking trade and to resettlement estates;

(4) Expanding cultural services, and in particular promote culture so that Chinese residents in particular can develop a stronger sense of appreciation and pride in their cultural heritage.

We expect that simultaneous interpretation in Chinese and English should be available in the Urban Council at the same time as in Legislative Council later in the year. Perhaps at that time, members of the public might take a greater interest in following the work of the Urban Council. Since it is Whitehall policy that there should be...

CHAIRMAN:-Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, please speak to the motion. This is not the place for debating Whitehall policies or Civic Association platforms dealing with ultra vires matters.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for being most impartial to previous speakers and hauling me on the carpet. I thought I was speaking on the motion, but apparently you are trying to anticipate what I am going to say.

Mr. Chairman, since it is policy that there should be no elections on the Legislative Council, it is the view of many of us and I should say in passing, of the Civic Association, that it would not be unreasonable if two or more Elected Members from this Council are given seats on the Legislative Council, so that further effort can be brought to bear on the Government to support the Urban Council and to more rapidly expand social services, improve the quality of life for Hong Kong residents, and give a sense of civic responsibility to the young people of Hong Kong.

MR. HENRY H. L. Hu:-Mr. Chairman, I am pleased that I can come back in time from my overseas trip to speak on this motion. I consider, Mr. Chairman, that this is an important motion but I regret that I cannot render my support to this motion. The motion reads:-

"Resolve that Standing Order 10(1) be amended to read:-

'All motions shall be confined to matters within the jurisdiction of the Urban Council.'"

Before we can debate on the present motion, we should first know what is the original stipulation in the Standing Order 10(1). Standing Order 10(1) deals with the subject matter of a motion. It reads:

"Except with the sanction of the Standing Committee of the Whole Council every motion must be confined to some matter included within Section 54 of the Urban Council Ordinance, 1955, or dealing with the procedure of the Council."

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