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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Ladies and gentlemen, it is just 4 o'clock and I will now call this meeting to order and proceed with today's agenda.
## MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 10th February, 1976 were confirmed.
## STATEMENT
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Three years have gone by since the Council started on its own. In this time, with the genuine support of the Urban Services Department, it has moved ahead with confidence. The course is set fair for steady and solid progress. Reorganization has not come to an end however.
Indeed, the conversion from the old way of working and discharging responsibility to a new style of operation is still going on. It will take more time for the Council and the Department to complete it because of limited manpower and financial resources which must be husbanded carefully.
There is meanwhile all the more need for the Department to continue appraising the initial experience of working largely on a regional and district grouping instead of mainly on a functional basis as before, and also to make such improvements as may be required to perform better, just as the Council ought to consider also whether the Department is fully and capably manned to do adequately all the new jobs which the Council is now expected to undertake separately from the Government. In fact, while not readily perceived and understood by all, this new work is already being done step by step.
In our second year in particular, many sub-committees were set up and they probed usefully into narrow and specific aspects of our work. In this way we were able to find out for sure if the Council as a whole was functioning effectively and the committees were doing their jobs properly. This operational structure generated intense activity and set a sturdy pace. However, for the current year about to end, it was decided to revert to direct select-committee control and in this manner follow on the spade-work done by the sub-committees. This has meant a certain change of pace in some directions which has also given time for the select committees to consolidate the previous vanguard activities of their sub-committees. The time may have come again for the Council to determine if the present operations have the momentum necessary to produce success of a scale really satisfactory to all and truly beneficial to the people. At the same time, the Council may wish to press ahead where opportunities already exist for quick expansion of activities. Also, to do more than just choose from alternative courses proposed by the Department, all select committees should penetrate deeply into the scope of their delegated responsibility and initiate work themselves as some are doing as a matter of course. Still, the Council would do well to consider if its present resources are being used to the best advantage of the community. This is a periodic exercise it could not shirk.
To react to problems and complaints is not good enough. It is necessary to act positively and to take the initiative to create better living conditions for the people as far as our means and power will let us do. We can all easily follow familiar courses of action where limited results may be anticipated. But, the community expects more of us; hence, it is essential to push forward all the time and aim consistently at higher goals; so, each select committee should find the time to assess frankly its achievements and failures and then decide the direction it wants to take in its work.
Anybody can do routine work and coast along; out of habit the mediocre prefers to do so and actually puts up stout resistance to change and progress. But, continuing success depends on unceasing initiative and enterprise. Above all, the Council should set for itself higher standards of performance all the time. For, this is the quality of effective leadership. Hence, let us do so and more in the select committees in the new year about to begin.
(Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG and Mr. Edmund CHOW arrived at this point.)
## PAPERS
The following paper was laid on the table:
Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of February, 1976.
## QUESTIONS
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Has Mr. CHEONG-LEEN been caught napping? (Laughter).
263
Page 149 of 154
Page 149 of 154
262
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Ladies and gentlemen, it is just 4 o'clock and I will now call this meeting to order and proceed with today's agenda.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 10th February, 1976 were con- firmed.
STATEMENT
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Three years have gone by since the Council started on its own. In this time, with the genuine support of the Urban Services Department, it has moved ahead with confidence. The course is set fair for steady and solid progress. Reorganization has not come to an end however.
Indeed, the conversion from the old way of working and discharg- ing responsibility to a new style of operation is still going on. It will take more time for the Council and the Department to complete it because of limited manpower and financial resources which must be husbanded carefully.
There is meanwhile all the more need for the Department to con- tinue appraising the initial experience of working largely on a regional and district grouping instead of mainly on a functional basis as before, and also to make such improvements as may be required to perform better, just as the Council ought to consider also whether the Depart- ment is fully and capably manned to do adequately all the new jobs which the Council is now expected to undertake separately from the Government. In fact, while not readily perceived and understood by all, this new work is already being done step by step.
In our second year in particular, many sub-committees were set up and they probed usefully into narrow and specific aspects of our work. In this way we were able to find out for sure if the Council as a whole was functioning effectively and the committees were doing their jobs properly. This operational structure generated intense activity and set a sturdy pace. However, for the current year about to end, it was decided to revert to direct select-committee control and in this manner follow on the spade-work done by the sub-committees. This has meant a certain change of pace in some directions which has also given time for the select committees to consolidate the previous van-
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
263
guard activities of their sub-committees. The time may have come again for the Council to determine if the present operations have the momentum necessary to produce success of a scale really satisfactory to all and truly beneficial to the people. At the same time, the Council may wish to press ahead where opportunities already exist for quick expansion of activities. Also, to do more than just choose from alter- native courses proposed by the Department, all select committees should penetrate deeply into the scope of their delegated responsibility and initiate work themselves as some are doing as a matter of course. Still, the Council would do well to consider if its present resources are being used to the best advantage of the community. This is a periodic exercise it could not shirk.
To react to problems and complaints is not good enough. It is necessary to act positively and to take the initiative to create better living conditions for the people as far as our means and power will let us do. We can all easily follow familiar courses of action where limited results may be anticipated. But, the community expects more of us; hence, it is essential to push forward all the time and aim consistently at higher goals; so, each select committee should find the time to assess frankly its achievements and failures and then decide the direction it wants to take in its work.
Anybody can do routine work and coast along; out of habit the mediocre prefers to do so and actually puts up stout resistance to change and progress. But, continuing success depends on unceasing initiative and enterprise. Above all, the Council should set for itself higher standards of performance all the time. For, this is the quality of effective leadership. Hence, let us do so and more in the select com- mittees in the new year about to begin.
(Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG and Mr. Edmund CHOW arrived at this point.)
PAPERS
The following paper was laid on the table:
Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of February, 1976.
QUESTIONS
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Has Mr. CHEONG-LEEN been caught napping? (Laughter).
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.