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Island, four for Kowloon, three for the Regional areas, or, which I would prefer, one for Hong Kong Island, one for Kowloon, one for Regional). Such Borough Councils to have the same responsibilities the Urban and Regional Councils have now plus Housing, but not Education or Transport because these would have to be handled on a territory-wide basis and this could only be done by a single Municipal Council.

One thing I am absolutely sure of, the present system of two Municipal Councils and anything between 18 and 20 District Boards is a great waste of money and time and does not contribute to efficient Municipal Government and just by the way I have recently been in Sydney and Auckland. Sydney has 30 separate Councils and Auckland has 20 and the confusion and conflict between these Councils has to be seen to be believed.

I am under no illusion that such radical reforms as I have just advocated will not be suggested in the Green Paper, which is a great pity, and so I want to make a point about the present system if electoral colleges continue and this Council remains such an electoral college and here for the benefit of the media, who may have got a copy of my speech already, I have to say that I am now leaving out a couple of paragraphs because what I was going to say was judged quite rightly by the Chairman as an attack on a fellow member which would violate Standing Orders. I leave that to members' imagination. So to get back to the speech.

It will be self-evident to all members that a connection to the seat of power, whether this be LEGCO, EXCO, or the Civil Service, is absolutely essential to facilitate the Urban Council's planning and work. One of these connections is, of course, our Chairman's right to go directly to the Chief Secretary, but as power begins to shift from the Civil Service to the people's elected representatives in LEGCO and indirectly in EXCO, it becomes more and more important for connections between this Council and the other Council to be strengthened.

I think it is absolutely essential for the smooth functioning of this Council and its work that there is a strong direct link to EXCO and LEGCO, and I would suggest to the Acting Governor and to those in charge of the 1987 review that one sitting member, and I emphasize the word 'sitting' one sitting member of the Urban Council should automatically also sit on EXCO. I would much prefer that this member be elected by all the Urban Councillors, but I would quite understand if the Governor would prefer to pick his own man or woman.

I also think that it is absolutely essential that the Urban Council elects two of its members to sit on LEGCO. Most of the LEGCO committees have some bearing on our work and it is impossible for one member to sit on all these committees, so to share the work there should be two. Also, if we elected two representatives then if one were unsuitable or unsatisfactory one would hope that at least the other one would turn out to be satisfactory.

However important this 1987 Review may be, it must be obvious to all that far more important are the discussions of the sub-groups of the main Chinese Committee for the Basic Law which have been taking place, and I, personally,

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am extremely worried that these are beginning to seriously go off the rails. There was a report in the newspapers based on press conferences given in Shenzhen last month that one sub-group had agreed to give veto power over our laws, the SAR Laws, to the National People's Congress of China. If that statement is true, then it represents a very dangerous thin end of a huge wedge because no matter what is said now, if the NPCC had veto power they would certainly be asked by the Chinese Government to exercise their veto at any time it so suited that Government.

The constitution and the legality of legislation passed by the Hong Kong Legislature surely should only be examined and, if so justified, overturned by the Hong Kong Supreme Court, otherwise our laws in future will be written in Beijing.

In my view, this is a far more important issue than any of the arguments on how to elect the Legislature or how to elect or appoint the Chief Executive. I believe veto power vested in the NPCC would be a violation of the Joint Declaration Article 3(3), and I hope the members of the sub-group who made the above referred to statement will think again because their present recommendation certainly could affect the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong very quickly indeed.

Sir, with these somewhat ominous words, I support the motion.

APPENDIX I

Speech by Mr. W. M. SULLKE, O.B.E., J.P. to Rotary Club of Hong Kong on Tuesday, 19 August 1986

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Daya Bay: The Nuclear Jigsaw and its Solution

For a great many people in the world we now have a new calendar: BC (Before Chernobyl) and AC (After Chernobyl), and it is now four months AC. Although I was asked to comment many times I deliberately waited until now before saying anything on the subject of Daya Bay so that, even though four months is a relatively short period, some perspective could be gained.

Before going any further, I want to emphasize that I am a layman but a layman who, because of my well-known interest in all types of pollution, has for the last ten years studied the problems of nuclear power and given them a lot of thought.

To quote my fellow poet Byron:

'Of all the horrid hideous notes of woe Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so".'