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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
motion before Council in the company of Your Excellency and this unique gathering of past Urban Councillors.
This Council prides itself on having green fingers and softening the effect of our concrete jungle. However, it also acts as a nursery and breeds civic leaders, as shown by the record of public service of past and present Councillors. A term in this Council is regarded as a useful baptism of fire in the public arena.
May I take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the leadership and ability of our past Chairman, Sonny SALES, who led this Council for eight years, from the time it achieved financial autonomy, until he decided to try another forum for his unquestioned administrative abilities, in the International Olympic movement.
Mr. M. W. Lo, the senior past Councillor present today, is a legend in his lifetime, and while he will say that age has dimmed his memory, it has certainly not affected his prowess at tennis. In fact, John MCENROE was relieved to learn that his opponent on his first visit to Hong Kong last Monday was to be Vijay Amritraj and not M. W.
The Council is indeed grateful for all the advice and support it receives from its eminent predecessors, and trust you will continue to give us the benefit of your frank criticism, or praise, when necessary, or earned.
We hope you will enjoy the entertainment that is arranged from our own resources later on this evening, and have much pleasure in seconding the motion before Council.
The question was put.
(Mr. TONG Kam-biu arrived at this point.)
The motion was carried unanimously.
ADDRESS BY MR. LO MAN-WAI, C.B.E., J.P.
MR. LO MAN-WAI (in English):—Your Excellency, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Urban Council, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The honour of responding to the resolution that's been just passed on behalf of the past members has fallen on me. Although I am a modest man, I can claim that I fully deserve this honour, this high honour, for I have one outstanding qualification: my age. This Council has scored a century. I am still at the wicket and I am getting very near to my century. But old age has one disadvantage. Old men tend to forget and tend to imagine they have done good things which they've never done. But I have vivid memories of the living conditions of Hong Kong when I was young. Hong Kong was dirty and unhealthy. We lived then under the dread of disease: plague, malaria, tuberculosis, smallpox and so on. But due to the efforts of the Sanitary Board,
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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the predecessor of the Urban Council and in spite of the ignorant opposition of the populace, these evils have been remedied.
Mr. Chairman, I think that even this one achievement merits the resolution which you've just passed and for which I thank you on behalf of the past members. I joined this Council a few years before the Second World War. Since then, there has been a great transformation. The population then was just about a million and a half. Now it is exceeding five million and a half.
This Council has now a staff of 17,000 and will expend a sum of $1.5 billion during the current financial year. This is particularly striking when one compares it with the expenditure of $2 million in the first year of the resumed operations after the Second World War, and the original staff of the Sanitary Board in 1883 consisting of 52 people.
This Council has faced the magnitude of its tasks with vigour. I do not wish to turn this meeting into an occasion for mutual admiration. But I do want to pay a tribute to this Council's successful efforts in keeping Hong Kong a clean, green and healthy city and making Hong Kong into a sporting and culturally stimulating city.
Sir, on behalf of the past members, I offer your Council our hearty congratulations for its attaining a centenary. Long life to the Urban Council.
(In Cantonese):—Long life to the Urban Council.
ADJOURNMENT—4:21 p.m.
CHAIRMAN (in English):—May I say that the formal proceedings of this centenary meeting are over, and I now declare the meeting adjourned.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER, HONG KONG
Page 23 of 194
Page 23 of 194
16
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
motion before Council in the company of Your Excellency and this unique
gathering of past Urban Councillors.
This Council prides itself on having green fingers and softening the effect of our concrete jungle. However, it also acts as a nursery and breeds civic leaders. as shown by the record of public service of past and present Councillors. A term
in this Council is regarded as a useful baptism of fire in the public arena.
May I take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the leadership and ability of our past Chairman, Sonny SALES, who led this Council for eight years, from the time it achieved financial autonomy, until he decided to try another forum for his unquestioned administrative abilities, in the International Olympic movement.
Own
Mr. M. W. Lo, the senior past Councillor present today, is a legend in his life time, and while he will say that age has dimmed his memory, it has certainly not affected his prowess at tennis. In fact, John MCENROE was relieved to lear that his opponent on his first visit to Hong Kong last Monday was to be Vijay Armritraj and not M. W.
The Council is indeed grateful for all the advice and support it receives from its eminent predecessors, and trust you will continue to give us the benefit of your frank criticism, or praise, when necessary, or earned.
We hope you will enjoy the entertainment that is arranged from our own resources later on this evening, and have much pleasure in seconding the motion before Council.
The question was put.
(Mr. TONG Kam-biu arrived at this point.)
The motion was carried unanimously.
ADDRESS BY MR. LO MAN-WAI, C.B.E., J.P.
MR. LO MAN-WAI (in English):-Your Excellency, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Urban Council, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The honour of responding to the resolution that's been just passed on behalf of the past members has fallen on me. Although I am a modest man, I can claim that I fully deserve this honour, this high honour, for I have one outstanding qualification my age. This Council has scored a century. I am still at the wicket and I am getting very near to my century. But old age has one disadvantage. Old men tend to forget and tend to imagine they have done good things which they've never done. But I have vivid memories of the living conditions of Hong Kong when I was young. Hong Kong was dirty and unhealthy. We lived then under the dread of disease: plague, malaria. tuberculosis, small pox and so on. But due to the efforts of the Sanitary Board,
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 23 of 194
17
the predecessor of the Urban Council and in spite of the ignorant opposition of the populace, these evils have been remedied.
Mr. Chairman, I think that even this one achievement merits the resolution which you've just passed and for which I thank you on behalf of the past members. I joined this Council a few years before the Second World War. Since then, there has been a great transformation. The population then was just about a million half. Now it is exceeding five millions and a half.
This Council has now a staff of 17 000 and will expend a sum of $1.5 billion during the current financial year. This is particularly striking when one compares it with the expenditure of $2 millions in the first year of the resumed operations after the Second World War, and the original staff of the Sanitary Board in 1883 consisting of 52 people.
This Council has faced the magnitude of its tasks with vigour. I do not wish to turn this meeting into an occasion for mutual admiration. But I do want to pay a tribute to this Council's successful efforts in keeping Hong Kong a clean, green and healthy city and making Hong Kong into a sporting and culturally stimulating city.
Sir, on behalf of the past members, I offer your Council our hearty congratulations for its attaining a centenary. Long life to the Urban Council.
(In Cantonese):--Long life to the Urban Council.
ADJOURNMENT-4.21 p.m.
CHAIRMAN (in English):--May I say that the formal proceedings of this centenary meeting are over, and I now declare the meeting adjourned.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER, HONG KONG
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