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4. HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
very soon! The only course open to the executive is to appeal against sentence on the ground that the sentence is obviously too lenient.
(e) Furthermore, the Ordinance has prescribed the maximum penalty for the contravention of any provisions of the Ordinance. Such maximum penalty is such that the legislature has considered just, fair and effective in the circumstances. Any penalty exceeding the statutorily prescribed maximum will obviously be excessive. Therefore, if any restaurant of substantial size shall be suspended for even one day, the damage may be so great as to exceed the maximum penalty prescribed by the relevant part of the law!
(f) Furthermore, for restaurants generally a large part of their workers' wages come from the tips or service charges given by customers. If the business is suspended, there will be no tips for the day and so the workers will be deprived of a large part of their wages. In the circumstances, the suspension will in fact be a punishment also of the innocent workers. The Council's so doing may therefore be against the rule of Natural Justice which prohibits punishment of the innocent.
(g) By reason of the above, either the law be amended to give the Court the power to suspend in the same manner as the provision for suspension of driving licence as contained in the Road Traffic Ordinance or to change the policy to a better and more reasonable form.
Ward
(a) The complaints from members of the public against any decisions, policies, systems or officers of Government or its Department very often throw light on the propriety and desirability of such decisions, policies or systems. Such complaints may therefore form meaningful guidelines for improvement and smooth operation of Government. A good Government is therefore one which tries to encourage and to facilitate its subjects not to hesitate in or withhold from making complaints as and when necessary. Unfortunately, there is an inherent distrust on the part of the public in filing complaints against Government through its officials because it is like making complaint against a person through his employee, which is useless if not ridiculous. This fact is clearly reflected in the statistic of cases received by the City District Offices, which have been heavily relied on as a bridge between Government and the public. The statistic shows that out of a total of 910,707 cases received during the year, 907,138 (99.61%) cases were enquiries and only 3,569 (0.39%) cases were complaints!
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(b) On the other hand, the Ward Offices of the Urban Council have received 10,089 cases for the same period of time, mainly complaints officially. I understand some of the elected Urban Councillors (outside ward duties) and community leaders may have received unofficially many times that number in respect of complaints from members of the public against Government's decisions and policies. I personally have received tens of thousands of such complaints involving tens of thousands of people in the past ten years of my social service to the community. In the circumstances, it may be advisable to expand the Ward Service to provide a better system of receiving and analysing complaints for constructive purposes. For this purpose, the Elected Members of the Council may play a more important role because the general public has the inherent misconception that the appointed must speak for Government which appoints him and the elected must speak for the public who elect him. It may take a long time for the public to correct the concept. In the meantime, the elected member of the Council may continue to play the said important role of acting as a bridge between Government and the public, especially in the matter of dealing with complaints against Government.
(c) However, it is not necessary to have different Ward Offices in different districts. If a person has a complaint to make, he will make it to whoever he believes can help him, irrespective of areas and districts. I therefore endorse the idea of having a Central Ward Office System in which we can have full-time staff and members of the Council can be on duty at prearranged times. Some members may want to have an hour a week, while some may be required to spend more time therein. The Central Ward will then be so orientated as to be capable of making necessary arrangements and to have all the necessary facilities. The cost of maintaining so many ward offices under the present system is certainly higher than that of maintaining a Central Ward Office described above. The material so collected in the Central Ward should be consolidated and analysed and should be tabled before the Council from time to time for recommendation to Government.
5. Co-operation for a common course
It is unfortunate that the general public has the inherent misconcept of the so-called 'basic difference of sense of loyalty' between the appointed and elected. However, such misconcept should not be shared by members of the Council who should try to share the common goal of working not only in one body but also in one camp for the benefit of the society as a whole. Differences of opinions are sometimes inevitable. Such differences may be due to lack of understanding or correct information, which can therefore be remedied by getting further and better particulars and by giving the matters
El
198
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
very soon! The only course open to the executive is to appeal against sentence on the ground that the sentence is obviously too
lenient.
(e) Furthermore, the Ordinance has prescribed the maximum penalty for the contravention of any provisions of the Ordinance. Such maximum penalty is such that the legislature has considered just, fair and effective in the circumstances. Any penalty exceeding the statutorily prescribed maximum will obviously be excessive. Therefore, if any restaurant of substantial size shall be suspended for even one day, the damage may be so great as to exceed the maximum penalty prescribed by the relevant part of the law! (f) Furthermore, for restaurants generally a large part of their workers' wages come from the tips or service charges given by customers. If the business is suspended, there will be no tips for the day and so the workers will be deprived of a large part of their wages. In the circumstances, the suspension will in fact be a punishment also of the innocent workers. The Council's so doing may therefore be against the rule of Natural Justice which prohibits punishment
of the innocent.
(g) By reason of the above, either the law be amended to give the Court the power to suspend in the same manner as the provision for suspension of driving licence as contained in the Road Traffic Ordinance or to change the policy to a better and more reasonable form.
Ward
(a) The complaints from members of the public against any decisions, policies, systems or officers of Government or its' Department very often throw light on the propriety and desirability of such decisions policies or systems. Such complaints may therefore form meaningful guidelines for improvement and smooth operation of Government. A good Government is therefore one which tries to encourage and to facilitate its subjects not to hesitate in or withhold from making complaints as and when necessary. Unfortunately, there is an in- herent distrust on the part of the public in filing complaints against Government through its officials because it is like making com- plaint against a person through his employee which is useless if not ridiculous. This fact is clearly reflected in the statistic of cases received by the City District Offices, which have been heavily relied on as a bridge between Government and the public. The statistic shows that out of a total of 910,707 cases received during the year, 907,138 (99.61%) cases were enquiries and only 3,569 (0.39%) cases were complaints!
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(b) On the other hand, the Ward Offices of the Urban Council have received 10,089 cases for the same period of time, mainly complaints officially. I understand some of the elected Urban Councillors (outside ward duties) and community leaders may have received unofficially many times that number in respect of complaints from members of the public against Government's decisions and policies. I personally have received tens of thousands of such complaints involving tens of thousands of people in the past ten years of my social service to the community. In the circumstances, it may be advisable to expand the Ward Service to provide a better system of receiving and analysing complaints for constructive purposes. For this purpose, the Elected Members of the Council may play a more important role because the general public has the inherent miscon- cept that the appointed must speak for Government which appoints him and the elected must speak for the public who elect him. It may take a long time for the public to correct the concept. In the mean- time, the elected member of the Council may continue to play the said important role of acting as a bridge between Government and the public especially in the matter of dealing with complaints against Government.
(c) However, it is not necessary to have different Ward Offices in different districts. If a person has a complaint to make, he will make it to whoever he believes can help him irrespective of areas and districts. I therefore endorse the idea of having a Central Ward Office System in which we can have full time staff and members of the Council can be on duty at prearranged times. Some members may want to have an hour a week while some may be required to spend more time therein. The Central Ward will then be so orientated as to be capable of making necessary arrangements and to have all the necessary facilities. The cost of maintaining so many ward offices under the present system is certainly higher than that of maintaining a Central Ward Office described above. The material so collected in the Central Ward should be consolidated and analysed and should be tabled before the Council from time to time for recommendation to Government.
5. Co-operation for a common course
It is unfortunate that the general public has the inherent misconcept of the so-called 'basic difference of sense of loyalty' between the appointed and elected. However, such misconcept should not be shared by members of the Council who should try to share the common goal of working not only in one body but also in one camp for the benefit of the society as a whole. Differences of opinions are sometimes inevitable. Such differences may be due to lack of understanding or correct information which can therefore be remedied by getting further and better particulars and by giving the matters
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