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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

Computerization Sub-Committee who have played a critical part in the introduction of this measure of modern technology to improve our services to the public.

Organization

The growth of the Urban Services Department has called for increased functional delegation from the headquarters to the level of the individual sub- departments of city services and cultural services. This process of decentraliza- tion was coupled by an exercise during the year in restructuring the staff establishment and improvements in the complementing and grading procedures with a view to rationalizing the internal administration of the Department.

Experiences of more advanced countries nowadays have demonstrated that while it is easy and politically popular to breeze through a period of expansion, it would be extremely painful to trim services after politicians have come to realize the over-expansion of the public sector. In this respect, the self-restraint displayed by the Council has been remarkable and I must congratulate my Colleagues on the Administration Select Committee for the effective applica- tion of the two-prong approach introduced last year to audit and control the creation of new posts on the staff establishment.

Use of Chinese

A phased programme was approved by the Council to introduce simultaneous interpretation service to all our select committees by April 1983, in stride with the likely development that more non-English speaking members from the grass-roots level may join the Council in the future. The operation of this service necessitates the provision of adequate training to our staff before its implementation in full. The annual staff costs for such service are estimated at HK$700,000 for 1983-84, amounting to less than 0.06% of our total expenditure in the coming year. This fractional percentage is clearly a worthwhile amount to be spent for an important cause. Furthermore, the introduction of simultaneous interpretation should help broaden the reservoir of talents which can be tapped to serve the community through the work of the Council.

Computerization

The first computer was purchased for the Accounts and Supplies Office of the Department, a package that includes a turn-key system together with appropriate software. Installation is now in progress aiming at live operation by April 1982. Initially, the system is intended primarily for our various financial and accounting functions such as budgetary control, stock recording, receipt and disbursement, I hope this system can be enhanced to cover a range of other contingent uses.

Also in the pipeline is the plan to introduce a computerized ticketing system, scheduled to come into service prior to the opening of our many performance

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venues, all with large seating capacities. Next on the work programme is the automation of our libraries as well as the computerization of the administration functions. I am pleased to report that as the prelude to this series of installations outlined above, the use of a service bureau for bookings at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium is favourably received. This stroke of success is a vote of faith in our endeavour to expand and upgrade the quality of our service.

Also worth mentioning is the application of the computer to the current 'Clean Hong Kong Campaign' in facilitating the swift retrieval of litter offence records. By enabling the prosecution to furnish Magistrates with information on previous convictions, this measure shall lead to the levy of stiffer fines on the repeated offenders. I hope that this will deter the public from littering in our concerted effort to keep the city clean.

Donations

Last year, I spoke about the problematic nature of donations to the Urban Council not being exemptable for the purpose of taxation. This has been met by the enactment of the Urban Council (Donations) Ordinance in December 1981. The amended legislation enlarged the definition of 'approved charitable donation' under Section 2(1) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance by extending its scope to include donations to the Urban Council. While this piece of legislation is warmly welcome, further improvements are now deemed desirable. From time to time, members of the public may donate museum materials to the Urban Council. The Council duly recognize this expression of good faith by associating the individual donor with the respective item, sometimes, by setting up a plague of acknowledgement. Correspondingly, the donor associates himself to an item of good taste and hence there is a sentimental attribute to motivate the donor to purchase the item before donation rather than a mere donation of money.

However, Section 2(1) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance restrictly defines 'approved charitable donation' as a donation of money, which hence precludes exemption for donations of items to our museums. Such treatment is contrary to the practice of accounting whereby we recognize both cash and museum materials as assets, though in different forms. The appearance of an anomaly here remains if we continue to discriminate the donation of one form of asset from another.

Indeed, the logic of exempting donations for taxation purposes is to encourage the bountiful act of public generosity and goodwill. We should at least allow the donor to deduct the acquisition cost of his donation. I hope that further removal of such inconsistencies will be favourably reviewed by the Government in the wider context of public spirit rather than the limited interest of revenue collection alone.

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