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Council might have to accept even though the practical difficulties in such a scheme would be somewhat hard to live with.
The Whole Council considered the matter in great detail and I think it is fair to say that my Elected colleagues considered that this proposal was not in the nature of a democratic development that they could support and thus the whole Council decided that they would not put this forward to Government because of these views.
With perhaps one exception, this Council is a very cohesive body and we manage to work with each other. Whilst we do not favour the proposals in the White Paper concerning this Council, we have to work with the Central Government and we have to work with other institutes and if we are going to have District Board representatives on this Council, we will find ways to work with them.
I think I speak for most Councillors when I say that the politics of confrontation have, over the last few years, found little support within this Council. We are all here to do a job to serve the public and certainly we do it to the best of our abilities.
The Urban Services Department is the second largest civil department of the Hong Kong Government and is headed by the Director of Urban Services who is supported by three Deputy Directors, i.e. Deputy Director of Administration, Deputy Director of Culture, Deputy Director of Environment and Recreation.
Those who have been in this Council for any length of time know only too well how the scope and content of the Council's activities have widened and increased over the past seven or eight years or so. The USD, however, has not increased in size to deal with this increased volume of business. In fact, it has been reduced in size. It is not, of course, a perfect organization—which organization of its size and range of responsibilities is-and the staff know this. Its senior management is badly in need of strengthening at the Deputy Director level, but the Civil Service Branch of the Government Secretariat has declined to support the Director's proposals. This clearly shows a total lack of knowledge on that Branch's part of what the Department's duties and responsibilities are.
To give a very brief outline from the Department's PIU monthly report to members for January 1988, 62 bilingual press releases were issued, 592 press and public inquiries were answered and 94 letters were sent to the Chinese press. I will let these statistics speak for themselves.
The Administration Select Committee keeps the size of the Department and its working methods under constant review. Like the Department, however, we are not infallible nor do we claim to be. Much has still to be done and, with the support of the staff, I am sure greater efforts will be made to secure value for money.
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Perhaps when people complain next time, they will also bear in mind what they pay in rates to this Council and the many services they get in return, and which compare more than favourably with those provided by Urban Councils elsewhere in this part of the world.
2. MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE LIBRARIES SELECT COMMITTEE (in English):--Mr. Chairman, later in this meeting I will move a motion to go through the formalities of having two floors of the Council's new premises in the Shui Wo Street Complex in Kwun Tong designated as a public library. However, before moving that motion I wish to report that this new library to be installed on the fifth and sixth floors of the Shui Wo Street Complex will be the most modern yet to be opened by the Council.
And one of the modern features to be incorporated in the premises will be a different type of security system which will be used there on a trial basis.
For some years the Council has been looking at the possibility of installing such a system in one of its public libraries to see whether this would be more efficient and effective than the security methods presently employed.
We have now been able to locate a supplier for such a new system, and so are installing it in this library, not-let me emphasize because we anticipate any special security problems there, but simply to give it a trial in proper working conditions.
With the open shelf arrangement, book losses are inevitable. While this drip-feed of losses is less than one per cent a year, efforts are constantly being made to explore effective means to further minimize such losses.
The security system to be installed in this library on a trial basis will be monitored very closely and if it proves effective and economical, the intention is to install the system in other public libraries on a step-by-step basis.
So, with this assurance that no special security problems are anticipated at this library, let me add that when the Shui Wo Street Public Library opens in the next couple of months, it will replace the existing Hong Ning Road Public Library, and be additional to the Kwun Tong Public Library in Ting On Street.
This new district library will be much larger and provide a far better service to Kwun Tong residents. This will be the second of the six new libraries which the Council plans to open in 1988 and I am confident it will be welcomed and well used by the residents of Kwun Tong.
3. MR. PAO PING-WING, CHAIRMAN OF THE CAPITAL WORKS SELECT COMMITTEE (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, speaking as Chairman of the Capital Works Select Committee, I wish to dwell for a moment on the commitment of the Council to better serve our four million-odd urban dwellers and upgrade Hong Kong's quality of life through what we term our 'rolling' or on-going five-year capital works programme, under which the Council provides urban Hong Kong with the most modern facilities, venues and municipal services.
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Council might have to accept even though the practical difficulties in such a scheme would be somewhat hard to live with.
The Whole Council considered the matter in great detail and I think it is fair to say that my Elected colleagues considered that this proposal was not in the nature of a democratic development that they could support and thus the whole Council decided that they would not put this forward to Government because of these views.
With perhaps one exception, this Council is a very cohesive body and we manage to work with each other. Whilst we do not favour the proposals in the White Paper concerning this Council, we have to work with the Central Government and we have to work with other institutes and if we are going to have District Board representatives on this Council, we will find ways to work with them.
I think I speak for most Councillors when I say that the politics of confrontation have, over the last few years, found little support within this Council. We are all here to do a job to serve the public and certainly we do it to the best of our abilities.
The Urban Services Department is the second largest civil department of the Hong Kong Government and is headed by the Director of Urban Services who is supported by three Deputy Directors, i.e. Deputy Director of Administration, Deputy Director of Culture, Deputy Director of Environment and Recreation.
Those who have been in this Council for any length of time know only too well how the scope and content of the Council's activities have widened and increased over the past seven or eight years or so. The USD, however, has not increased in size to deal with this increased volume of business. In fact, it has been reduced in size. It is not, of course, a perfect organization—which organization of its size and range of responsibilities is-and the staff know this. Its senior management is badly in need of strengthening at the Deputy Director level, but the Civil Service Branch of the Government Secretariat has declined to support the Director's proposals. This clearly shows a total lack of knowledge on that Branch's part of what the Department's duties and responsibilities are.
To give a very brief outline from the Department's PIU monthly report to members for January 1988, 62 bilingual press releases were issued, 592 press and public inquiries were answered and 94 letters were sent to the Chinese press. I will let these statistics speak for themselves.
The Administration Select Committee keeps the size of the Department and its working methods under constant review. Like the Department, however, we are not infallible nor do we claim to be. Much has still to be done and, with the support of the staff, I am sure greater efforts will be made to secure value for money.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 180 of 189
349
Perhaps when people complain next time, they will also bear in mind what they pay in rates to this Council and the many services they get in return, and which compare more than favourably with those provided by Urban Councils elsewhere in this part of the world.
2. MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE LIBRARIES Select ComMITTEE (in English):--Mr. Chairman, later in this meeting I will move a motion to go through the formalities of having two floors of the Council's new premises in the Shui Wo Street Complex in Kwun Tong designated as a public library. However, before moving that motion I wish to report that this new library to be installed on the fifth and sixth floors of the Shui Wo Street Complex will be the most modern yet to be opened by the Council.
And one of the modern features to be incorporated in the premises will be a different type of security system which will be used there on a trial basis.
For some years the Council has been looking at the possibility of installing such a system in one of its public libraries to see whether this would be more efficient and effective than the security methods presently employed.
We have now been able to locate a supplier for such a new system, and so are installing it in this library, not-let me emphasize because we anticipate any special security problems there, but simply to give it a trial in proper working conditions.
With the open shelf arrangement, book losses are inevitable. While this drip-feed of losses is less than one per cent a year, efforts are constantly being made to explore effective means to further minimize such losses.
The security system to be installed in this library on a trial basis will be monitored very closely and if it proves effective and economical, the intention is to install the system in other public libraries on a step-by-step basis.
So, with this assurance that no special security problems are anticipated at this library, let me add that when the Shui Wo Street Public Library opens in the next couple of months, it will replace the existing Hong Ning Road Public Library, and be additional to the Kwun Tong Public Library in Ting On Street.
This new district library will be much larger and provide a far better service to Kwun Tong residents. This will be the second of the six new libraries which the Council plans to open in 1988 and I am confident it will be welcomed and well used by the residents of Kwun Tong.
3. MR. PAO PING-WING, CHAIRMAN OF THE Capital Works Select CommittEE (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, speaking as Chairman of the Capital Works Select Committee, I wish to dwell for a moment on the commitment of the Council to better serve our four million-odd urban dwellers and upgrade Hong Kong's quality of life through what we term our 'rolling' or on-going five-year capital works programme, under which the Council provides urban Hong Kong with the most modern facilities, venues and municipal services.
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