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shortly with the Festival and Hong Kong in general as its main theme. It is anticipated that millions of viewers in the UK will see this presentation.
My colleague, Mr F. K. Hu, Chairman of the Cultural Affairs Select Committee, has already spoken on the Council's two special projects, namely, the Chinese Orchestra and the Repertoire Theatre. Suffice for me to say that these are indeed projects worthy of support. Public attendance at the performances of these two groups have been most gratifying.
Perhaps less well known but nevertheless one of Council's important contributions to improving the quality of life for the citizens is the outdoor entertainment programmes. In the past 9 months, the Council presented 622 events at all eleven districts and enjoyed by 705,000 people. Most of these are free of charge with the exception of youth dances, grand balls at hotels and the Amateur Singing Competition Final.
For each month, there are at least 50 or more programmes ranging from variety shows, pop concerts, band concerts, Cantonese operas, film shows, orchestral and folk song/dance performances, musical comedies, youth dances, roller skating displays and puppet shows. Each type of programme is rotated from one urban district to the next for the convenience of the public and the more popular programmes are held repeatedly at several locations simultaneously in the same month.
At the height of the summer season in August, there were 114 outdoor and special Summer Fun Festival events, the latter in order of popularity included Youth Balls, Family Harbour Cruise, Launch Picnic, Folk Dance Class, Astronomy Camp, Swim-in and Swimming Party, and many other events.
Other popular entertainments organized during the year were: April Fiesta in celebration of the Queen's Birthday, children's Painting Competitions and the 3rd Amateur Singing Competition in December.
In celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Council played a leading role in organizing a two-day Lantern Carnival at Victoria Park attended by some 140,000 persons. In addition, two mini carnivals were held at Morse Park and Kowloon Park.
Constant efforts are being made to increase the diversity of programmes as well as their quality. A careful monthly evaluation of what interests the people, guides the selection of future programmes.
Perhaps no other city in the world has as extensive and varied a free entertainment programme as that presented by the Urban Council, yet I for one would welcome all constructive suggestions if for no other purposes than to ensure that the programmes presented have the widest of public appeal.
During the last two annual debates, mention has been made of a Museum of Science and Technology. I am happy to report that significant progress has been made this year. A senior scientific officer has been
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recruited to head a team for the planning of the proposed Museum. He will be on the job shortly, and the Council has also put in a bid for a site for this project at Chatham Road East, very near to the Polytechnic. Also, a team of five consultants from the Association of Science Technology Centre in the U.S.A. came to Hong Kong during October at the initiative of the Urban Council. The arrival of their report is imminent. During the consulting team's stay in Hong Kong, they talked to a wide section of the community including those in industry, education, as well as engineering practitioner. In 5 days of consultation, the team attended 26 separate meetings and met more than 80 individuals. Preliminary findings are that a Science Museum properly orientated towards usage by all of the community will prove to be one of the most heavily visited cultural facilities in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong at one time was described as a cultural desert, now a cultural oasis-an oasis with an over abundance of culture. Whatever is the fashionable label critics like to apply, the ultimate goal must be to create a better environment and to give more and better service to the community and its citizens.
With these few remarks, I have much pleasure in supporting the motion before Council.
MR KIM Y. S. CHAM (in English):- Mr Chairman, industrial strifes are traumatic experiences for the contestants but where they occur in the civil service, such conflict results in discomfort and anxiety among the community whom these public servants serve. With the largest contingent of civil service establishment total more than 16,000 staff under its realm of supervision the Urban Council is naturally concerned with the repercussion of industrial action.
In the wake of such turmoil, it is reassuring to know that the new Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service is being conceived to deal specifically with staff-management discords. As episodes in the past attest, the traditional ad hoc and case-specific approach to resolve disputes in the civil service looks increasingly pale under the recent brunt of upsurging demands from the staff and their union.
It is envisaged that this new commission will be involved not merely with the settlement of civil service conflict that comes to the open. In addition, it will monitor and direct comparative reviews of internal salary structure between the various grades inside the civil service. The latter task is evidently a more basic and important concern, given that the bulk of our civil service disputes are rooted in cross-grade relativity issues concerning pay and promotion opportunities.
Clearly the setting up of the new Commission is a step in the right direction and as a policy-making body, the Urban Council would give its full blessing
Page 113 of 135
Page 113 of 135
186
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
shortly with the Festival and Hong Kong in general as its main theme. It is anticipated that millions of viewers in the UK will see this presentation.
My colleague, Mr F. K. Hu, Chairman of the Cultural Affairs Select Committee, has already spoken on the Council's two special projects, namely, the Chinese Orchestra and the Repertoire Theatre. Suffice for me to say that these are indeed projects worthy of support. Public attendance at the performances of these two groups have been most gratifying.
Perhaps less well known but nevertheless one of Council's important contributions to improving the quality of life for the citizens is the outdoor entertainment programmes. In the past 9 months, the Council presented 622 events at all eleven districts and enjoyed by 705,000 people. Most of these are free of charge with the exception of youth dances, grand balls at hotels and the Amateur Singing Competition Final.
For each month, there are at least 50 or more programmes ranging from variety shows, pop concerts, band concerts, Cantonese operas, film shows, orchestral and folk song/dance performances, musical comedies, youth dances, roller skating displays and puppet shows. Each type of programme is rotated from one urban district to the next for the convenience of the public and the more popular programmes are held repeatedly at several locations simultaneously in the same month.
At the height of the summer season in August, there were 114 outdoor and special Summer Fun Festival events, the latter in order of popularity included Youth Balls, Family Harbour Cruise, Launch Picnic, Folk Dance Class, Astronomy Camp, Swim-in and Swimming Party, and many other events.
Other popular entertainments organized during the year were: April Fiesta in celebration of the Queen's Birthday, children's Painting Competitions and the 3rd Amateur Singing Competition in December.
In celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Council played a leading role in organizing a two-day Lantern Carnival at Victoria Park attended by some 140,000 persons. In addition, two mini carnivals were held at Morse Park and Kowloon Park.
Constant efforts are being made to increase the diversity of programmes as well as their quality. A careful monthly evaluation of what interests the people, guides the selection of future programmes.
Perhaps no other city in the world has as extensive and varied a free entertainment programme as that presented by the Urban Council, yet I for one would welcome all constructive suggestions if for no other purposes than to ensure that the programmes presented have the widest of public appeal.
During the last two annual debates, mention has been made of a Museum of Science and Technology. I am happy to report that significant progress has been made this year. A senior scientific officer has been
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 113 of 135
187
recruited to head a team for the planning of the proposed Museum. He will be on the job shortly, and the Council has also put in a bid for a site for this project at Chatham Road East, very near to the Polytechnic. Also, a team of five consultants from the Association of Science Technology Centre in the U.S.A. came to Hong Kong during October at the initiative of the Urban Council. The arrival of their report is imminent. During the consulting team's stay in Hong Kong, they talked to a wide section of the community including those in industry, education, as well as engineering practitioner. In 5 days of consultation, the team attended 26 separate meet- ings and met more than 80 individuals. Preliminary findings are that a Science Museum properly orientated towards usage by all of the community will prove to be one of the most heavily visited cultural facilities in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong at one time was described as a cultural desert, now a cultural oasis-an oasis with an over abundance of culture. Whatever is the fashion- able label critics like to apply, the ultimate goal must be to create a better environment and to give more and better service to the community and its citizens.
With these few remarks, I have much pleasure in supporting the motion before Council.
MR KIM Y. S. CHAM (in English):- Mr Chairman, industrial strifes are traumatic experiences for the contestants but where they occur in the civil service, such conflict results in discomfort and anxiety among the community whom these public servants serve. With the largest contingent of civil service establishment total more than 16,000 staff under its realm of supervision the Urban Council is naturally concerned with the repercussion of industrial action.
In the wake of such turmoil, it is reassuring to know that the new Com- mission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service is being conceived to deal specifically with staff-management discords. As episodes in the past attest, the traditional ad hoc and case-specific approach to resolve disputes in the civil service looks increasingly pale under the recent brunt of upsurg- ing demands from the staff and their union.
It is envisaged that this new commission will be involved not merely with the settlement of civil service conflict that comes to the open. In addition, it will monitor and direct comparative reviews of internal salary structure between the various grades inside the civil service. The latter task is evidently a more basic and important concern, given that the bulk of our civil service disputes are rooted in cross-grade relativity issues concerning pay and promotion opportunities.
Clearly the setting up of the new Commission is a step in the right direction and as a policy-making body, the Urban Council would give its full blessing
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