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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN

CHAIRMAN (in English):-Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, Council will resume the debate on the Statement of Aims for 1980. I will now invite

Mr. TSIN to speak.

MR. TSIN SAI-NIN (in Cantonese): -Mr. Chairman, reform of Hong Kong's Constitution-Last October, I went to visit England with Councillors Mrs. E ELLIOTT, Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG and Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG. We requested support from the British authorities, including the Parliament, the Foreign Office, parties in office and in opposition and the various organizations concerned, to bring about a reform of Hong Kong's constitution which the people here are very concerned about. We did arouse attention from the British government and the public. We believe that a sound constitution is prerequisite for a sound society. Otherwise, the government will be democratic in name but a puppet in reality. Such government can do nothing to the improvement of society.

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Relaxing the qualifications required of the electors and the questions of extension of authority and democratization-The Urban Council is the body which represents people to participate in local affairs. It is really unreasonable to limit electors to less than one-tenth of the total population. In order to encourage people to take part in local affairs, the most important thing is to relax the qualifications required of the electors. In other words, permanent residents who have been staying in Hong Kong for more than five years and possess adult Hong Kong Identity Cards should have the right to vote. Besides, they should be encouraged to play an active role in local affairs. Therefore, all administrations connected with local affairs, e.g. housing, education, medicine, transport, social welfare, town planning, and even fire services and police force, should be supervised and controlled by the Urban Council. And, all Urban Councillors should be elected; government appointed officials or experts can only be in attendance to give their opinions or offer expert advice. In this way, the Urban Council can truly be said to be a body representing the public and the people of Hong Kong can then have true democracy.

The Economic Problem of Hong Kong-The disparity between the rich and the poor is something the people in Hong Kong are most worrying about. The government's high land price policy sharpens this disparity. Personal allowance also fails to be adequately adjusted in accordance with the soaring prices and inflation. Thus life becomes more and more difficult for the middle class who will be penurious in the future. Dissatisfaction and anxiety will shake the people's confidence in the government. Such is the result of the undesirable policies carried out by the government.

As mentioned above, the government not only implements policies in disregard of the consequences to the lower middle class which represents a

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majority in the community, it also adopts repressive and antagonistic policy to treat the lower middle level civil servants who constitute a large portion of the 130,000 government employees. The government thinks that by department, it can repress and disunite the lower middle level civil servants. fundamental principle of society. If the government wants to make use of the But we have to bear in mind that 'more repression, more resistance' is the minority high officials whose salary, including housing allowance, exceeds $10.000 a month to suppress or disunite the lower middle level civil servants with a monthly income of around $1,000, then internal conflict and disunion will occur within the civil service. The chain reaction and grave consequences will stew the policy makers in their own juice. Besides, enmity and conflict will occur between the government and the civil servants; between the government and the people; between the lower middle level civil servants and the public. The consequences are, indeed, very serious.

At last, I am very much concerned and worried about the mounting serious- ness of the law-and-order problem and the increase in crime rate. Hong Kong has a large population and society is complicated. If those on the top, that is, Councillors in the Executive and Legislative Councils led by the government and directors of various departments, do not thoroughly understand and launch policies to the interest of the majority of the people, but only care for the increase in revenue from high taxation and high land price, people will become disquiet and crime rate will increase tremendously. Britain, the ruling country of Hong Kong and her appointed and still colonial Hong Kong government, can never escape their responsibility in terms of morality and law.

With the above personal view, I support the Council's Statement of Aims for 1980-81.

(Miss Cecilia L. Y. Yeung arrived during Mr. Tsin Sai-nin's address.)

MR. EDMUND W. H. CHOW (in English):-

Factory Canteens

Under the existing legislation a canteen provided by a factory for the exclusive use of its own workers is not considered as a food business and is, therefore, exempt from the licensing control of the Urban Council. However, from time to time the district health staff do provide health talks and courses, and codes of practice, to the managements and food handlers of these canteens. On the other hand, if a canteen also caters for workers from another factory or members of the public, it will become a restaurant which requires licensing. If, however, it operates without the requisite licence, the operator is liable to prosecution for operating a restaurant without a licence.

From the hygienic point of view, however, it is always desirable that canteens in factories should be brought under the control of the Urban