1983 — Page 107

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

months. One recording alone has achieved sales of 20,000 copies in Hong Kong and a further 20,000 overseas. We are advised that this recording of traditional Chinese melodies will reach a sales figure of 50,000 within the next few weeks, thereby making the Hong Kong Philharmonic one of the very few Orchestras throughout the world to achieve what is known in the recording industry as a platinum disc.

It can therefore be said with no little pride that we have brought the Orchestra to all people in Hong Kong and that it has been welcomed with open arms. We can also say that the Council's multi-million-dollar investment in the Orchestra is now paying handsome dividends, and on that happy note, I have much pleasure in seconding your motion.

MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):- Mr. Chairman, I am the first of many speakers to address the Chair on this Annual Motion which has been duly proposed and seconded. I will therefore not be very long.

I expect that I am only one of many who will mention the future of Hong Kong in connection with the year 1997. However, whatever the results of talks now being carried on in Peking, Hong Kong must brace itself for considerable changes on the date when the New Territories Lease expires. It is therefore necessary to consider, now, an internal constitution which would be least unacceptable to the Chinese and British Governments, so that in the contingency after the changes that are likely to take place in that year, Hong Kong will be given a sense of continuity which will not make such differences detrimentally affect the people of Hong Kong.

The first thing to consider is that the whole Government of Hong Kong is, in a sense, only a local administration. We have no independent policy on foreign affairs, we have no Secretary or Secretariat for foreign affairs. What we do have is a series of local councils, from the district boards to the Executive Council itself.

In my opinion, the District Boards should be given a limited degree of executive power in their district, whilst retaining their ability to advise the Government generally in respect to district matters. They should gradually be given more representation by increasing the number of elected Members on the council, and by giving them the power to elect their own Chairman (a move which has already been contemplated by the Central Government).

Coming up the scale to the Urban Council, in my view, it is high time for the Urban Council's jurisdiction to cover the whole of Hong Kong, especially including the new towns, but with limited powers, essentially the same as they are at present. However, there is no reason in 1984 to have the Housing Authority as yet another separate body. Under the old Housing Ordinance, the Housing Authority was in effect the Urban Council, and it should now revert to the Council but with the Secretary for Housing and certain senior officials on Housing Matters. If the Government wants a wider representation, then the Housing Management Committee could also include representatives from all the district councils where there are housing estates; this could properly be done within the Urban Council's present Standing Orders.

There are other certain minor alterations I would propose, namely, to have more Councillors, as such, on the Education and Town Planning Boards, and to give consideration to the inclusion of the Fire Services as being also under the Urban Council. Nevertheless, by and large, I am content to leave the Urban Council as it is, except for the inclusion of the whole of Hong Kong under its limited jurisdiction, and also I would propose that the number of Elected Members be increased, so that elections to the Council would have a real meaning.

Coming up to the Legislative Council, which really is mainly concerned with the making of local laws, I am not convinced that even the appointment of persons from all walks of life to this Council adequately enables the Government to say that it represents Hong Kong. There has been an increasing emphasis by the Government on the doings of UMELCO, but UMELCO at present consists of only appointed Members, Members who look behind their backs to the Governor who appointed them, not to the people who elected them. I do not propose that there should be a great number of elected Members, certainly not even parity, but the Government should have the benefit of some elected Members from the constituencies which they themselves have now established for the Urban and District Councils. After all, this was proposed by Man Kam Lo as early as 1949, instead of the term UK's labour government's idea of a full Municipal Council with wide-ranging powers.

The Executive Council is of course the Governor's own Council, and I do not suggest that there be elections to this Council. However, I do suggest that Unofficial Members of this Council should also engage in the work of some other council, so as to know the 'thinking' of the Hong Kong public. I suggest that a convention be established for the Governor to appoint as unofficial members to Executive Council, only Members of the Legislative or Urban Councils or the District Boards. It is very easy to lose contact with current affairs in Hong Kong. Even I, who have been in local politics ever since the early 50s, had to feel my way for the first few months, when I came back on to this Council. The changes really did surprise me.

Now, that is all I have to say. This is my blueprint for the organization of what is an entirely local Government, and therefore, can be preserved, whatever political changes come to Hong Kong in the future. With these words, I support the motion.

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