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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN

CHAIRMAN (in English):---Council will come to order. The Annual Conventional Debate will now resume.

Before I invite Miss YEUNG to do so, I would like to say how pleased the Council must be with the presence of Mr. John BLAKER, a former Member of this Council and a very active one at that. Welcome to Hong Kong. (Applause)

MISS CECILIA L. Y. YEUNG (in Cantonese): -Mr. Chairman, Fellow Councillors, having spoken year after year at the Council's Annual Conventional Debate, I find this annual event most constructive and meaningful as it gives us a chance to express our views on urban services as well as other matters. It is indeed an invaluable opportunity in the year for us to exchange our opinions freely and put forth constructive suggestions conductive to the development of Hong Kong, especially at such an important meeting chaired by Mr. Sales.

First of all, I would like to state that as a matter of principle, the Council should not stay in the era of the Sanitory Board, but should strive to provide wide-ranging services for the community. I hope that the scope of services of the Council will be further extended by, say, taking over the control of the New Territories Region of the Urban Services Department, as recently suggested. Although there have been objections to this suggestion, I am of the opinion that: (1) it would be against the principle of efficient administration to rule Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories on a regional basis as the total area of these regions is not very large, and (2) the Governor should appoint N.T. people to serve in the Council and the Govern- ment should also consider increasing the number of seats of the Council to give N.T. people a chance to be elected as Urban Councillors, since it would make no difference at all for N.T. people to take part in urban administration. I can foresee a bright future in the development and growth of the Council, just like the sun rising in the east.

Today I am going to speak on the following subjects and I appreciate any comments from my colleagues:

(1) The Council's Finance

In the 1976 Debate, the focus of our discussion was on the proper apportionment of rates so that we could make both ends meet. The Council used to receive from the government a sum amounting

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to only 1/3 of its total revenue from rates, of which 3/4 had to be spent on personal emoluments of the staff of the Urban Services Department, and the remaining 1/4 on the expansion of a great variety of our public services. Needless to say, additional funds are needed if we want to further expand our scope of services. But how do we get the additional fund? In this respect, I think it essential for us to have absolute say on our own activities. As a Chinese saying goes, "There is always a way to get money." So why don't we try to get more money from our own sources of revenue? Take for instance, for a large restaurant occupying a covered area of over 3,000 sq. ft., it is nothing less than ridiculous that we charge it a licence fee of only $1,500 per annum, an amount which is less than the service tips received in one day. It is therefore hoped that the legislation concerned should be amended to allow the charging of licence fees according to the business turnover and the size of the restaurants, which appears to be more reasonable. I once suggested that this Council should actively participate in reclamation programmes and share the profits derived therefrom. I also suggested that the Central Market Building should be re-developed into an "Urban Services Building". My suggestions were made not only for the purpose of beautifying the appearance of our city but also for the purpose of bolstering our The latter suggestion about the re-development project has recently been accepted, but it is regrettable that the Central Fire Station Building has not been included in the project under planning.

revenue.

The above-mentioned are my proposals in regard to the Council's finance. We may explore into their feasibility, bearing in mind that only when we have the means can we render adequate services to the public. As this is a matter of paramount importance to us, I cannot restrain myself from voicing my opinion.

(2) Cultural and Recreational Services

I have once and again pointed out that while the Council has spent no small amount of money in providing services for our youth, it has failed to provide adequate services for other sectors of the community, especially the infirm and the aged. The pro- posals set out in the recently published Green Paper on Services for the elderly have won praises from members of the public except that the proposed age requirement for the Old Age Allowance is considered too high, the amount of the Allowance too small and