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responsibility and to take urgent action to include in the existing business curriculum the appropriate humanities to reinforce this sense. A balanced training of our future professionals is mandatory, otherwise we will just be churning out 'professionals' that are prone to or pushed to being 'destructive achievers' of our society and its environment.
The other area relates to the role of high-quality public libraries. Quality libraries are an important adjunct to our continuous learning process. It is a place where local and the wealth of quality knowledge of other nations should be easily accessible by the general public. The Urban Council, since its financial autonomy in 1973, has increased the number of quality libraries by almost five-fold. The library stock now totals 2.3 million. Library extension activities alone served 1.2 million participants during the last financial year.
The Open Learning Institute will serve the public from all parts of the territory. On a rational and economic base, the majority of 29 Urban Council Libraries should be well-placed to serve its students from Hong Kong and Kowloon. The Council's Library should no longer rest on the premise that its facilities are mainly for recreational and entertainment needs. The needs of our businessmen as well as those who are not associated with local tertiary institutions should also be met. After all, many of them pay rates! Quality and quantity of the reference section should therefore be strengthened considerably. In light of the continuous problem of brain drain, quality library collections represent an important source for the less experienced to resort to in improving their working knowledge.
Hong Kong depends largely on international trades, business technology, tourism, and finance, all of which will progressively rely on quality knowledge and timely information. Our overseas trading partners are investing heavily in accelerating their generation of new knowledge. Its availability in Hong Kong and the ease of access by the public will enhance Hong Kong people's ability to communicate and deal with their overseas counterparts effectively. Urban Council's libraries should play a crucial role in facilitating the above process. The present guiding ratio of 80% Chinese and 20% English items in its collection will not encourage nor support the above needs of the public to advance and compete internationally. Has the quality, spread, and quantity of original publications in Chinese matched that of the advanced nations? If Hong Kong is to remain worthwhile in the years to come, its people must have easy access to the vast pool of quality overseas knowledge as well. Changes in Urban Council's Library collection strategy with reference to the foregoing will be a wise investment that the younger and future generations of Hong Kong will have to rely on to be of value to society. After all, the Government, through the Councils and other Advisory bodies, is investing hundreds of millions of Dollars in Recreation and Cultural facilities alone.
Sir, with the above remarks, I support the motion.
(Mr. Samuel P. W. WONG left the meeting at 4:30 p.m.)
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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MISS JULIANA LI (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, I am filled with rapture to take part in the Urban Council Annual Conventional Debate for the first time. Yet, at the same time, I feel a bit frustrated for I shall be the Councillor who has the shortest term of office in the history of the Urban Council. The reason is that the Government has recently announced that the term of office for Councillors elected in the coming Urban Council Election will be shortened to two years. I was elected in a by-election last October and am now preparing for the coming election scheduled in March this year. Since there is this abrupt shortening of the term of office, I find two elections too closely spaced and it is not very fair to the people and the public who give me their support in the elections. I was recently elected as a district board member last March and within a short period stood for the Urban Council by-election in October. If I were to run for re-election in the Urban Council in March this year, then I would have to get prepared in 1990 for the Urban Council/District Board Election and run for re-election in 1991. The Government has decided that Urban Council Councillors could no longer become ex-officio members in district boards early last year and recently has shortened the term of office of elected Urban Council Councillors to two years. This is some kind of manoeuvring in the eyes of the elected Councillors. Moreover, I do not want to run for election and sacrifice the time to serve the public. I, therefore, after careful and thorough consideration, decided against running for a seat in the Urban Council in the coming year.
During the few months in office in the Urban Council, I feel particularly happy to see co-operation between elected and appointed members bear fruitful results through their dedication to work for the interest of the public. A recent example is: I have reflected the problems caused by lounges located at Hillwood Road in Tsim Sha Tsui to other councillors, the Urban Services Department, and the Police during Liquor Licensing Board meetings. All of them have shown their concern. They noted the problems and worked together to resolve the matter speedily and efficiently. On behalf of the residents in Hillwood Road, I would like to take this opportunity to express utmost gratitude for the co-operation and kind consideration of my fellow colleagues and staff of the departments concerned.
Another point is: I realize that a loophole in our legislation has been exploited in the case of private clubs. Some private clubs operate as food premises open to the public without a restaurant license and thus avoid the sophisticated formalities in license application. These establishments register customers as their members. Some of them are even located in the residential portion of multi-storeyed commercial cum residential buildings and, as a result, create inconvenience to the occupants and give rise to all sorts of problems.
One further point is: exhaust systems installed in many food premises are a nuisance in terms of the noise created and the considerable quantity of emission. They pollute the environment and cause hygiene problems. These
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responsibility and to take urgent action to include in the existing business cur- riculum the appropriate humanities to reinforce this sense. A balanced training of our future professional is mandatory, otherwise we will just be churning our 'professional' that are prone to or pushed to being 'destructive achievers' of our society and its environment.
The other area relates to the role of high quality public library. Quality library is an important adjunct to our continuous learning process. It is a place where local and the wealth of quality knowledge of other nations should be easily accessable by the general public. The Urban Council, since its financial autonomy in 1973, has increased the number of quality libraries by almost five fold. The library stock now totaled 2.3 million. Library extension activities alone served 1.2 million participants during the last financial year.
The Open Learning Institute will serve the public from all parts of the terri- tory. On a rational and economic base, the majority of 29 Urban Council Libraries should be well placed to serve its students from Hong Kong and Kowloon. The Council's Library should no longer rest on the premises that its facilities are mainly for recreational and entertainment needs. The needs of our businessmen as well as those who are not associated with local tertiary in- stitutions should also be met. Afterall many of them pay rates! Quality and quantity of reference section should therefore be strengthened considerably. In light of the continuous problem of brain drain, quality library collections rep- resent an important source for the less experienced to resort to in improving their working knowledge.
Hong Kong depends largely on international trades, business technology, tourism and finance, all of which will progressively rely on quality knowledge and timely information. Our overseas trading partners are investing heavily in accelerating their generation of new knowledge. Its availability in Hong Kong and the ease of access by the public will enhance Hong Kong people's ability to communicate and deal with their overseas counterpart effectively. Urban Councils' libraries should play a crucial role in facilitating the above process. The present guiding ratio of 80% Chinese and 20% English items in its collec- tion will not encourage nor support the above needs of the public to advance and compete internationally. Has the quality, spread and quantity of original publications in Chinese matched that of the advanced nations? If Hong Kong is to remain its worth in the years to come, its people must have easy access to the vast pool of quality overseas knowledge as well. Changes in Urban Council's Library collection strategy with reference to the foregoing will be a wise in- vestment that the younger and future generations of Hong Kong will have to rely on to be of value to the society. Afterall, the Government through the Councils and other Advisory bodies is investing hundreds of millions of Dollar in Recreation and Cultural facilities alone.
Sir, with the above remarks, I support the motion.
(Mr. Samuel P. W. WONG left the meeting at 4.30 p.m.)
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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311
MISS JULIANA LI (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, I am filled with rapture to take part in the Urban Council Annual Conventional Debate for the first time. Yet at the same time I feel a bit frustrated for I shall be the Councillor who has the shortest term of office in the history of the Urban Council. The reason is that the Government has recently announced that the term of office for Councillors elected in the coming Urban Council Election will be shortened to two years. I was elected in a by-election last October and am now preparing for the coming election scheduled in March this year. Since there is this abrupt shortening of term of office, I find two elections too closely spaced and it is not very fair to the people and the public who give me their support in the elections. I was recently elected as a district board member last March and within a short period of time stood for the Urban Council by-election in October. If I were to run for re-election in the Urban Council in March this year, then I would have to get prepared in 1990 for the Urban Council/District Board Election and run for re-election in 1991. The Government has decided that Urban Council Councillors could no longer become ex-officio members in district boards early last year and recently has shortened the term of office of elected Urban Council Councillors or two years. This is some kind of manoeuvring in the eyes of the elected Councillors. Moreover, I do not want to run for election and sacrifice the time to serve the public. I therefore, after careful and thorough consider- ation, decided against running for a seat in the Urban Council in the coming year.
During the few months in office in the Urban Council I feel particularly happy to see co-operation between elected and appointed members bear fruitful results through their dedication to work for the interest of the public. A recent example is: I have reflected the problems caused by lounges located at Hillwood Road in Tsim Sha Tsui to other councillors, the Urban Services Department and the Police during Liquor Licensing Board meetings. All of them have shown their concern. They noted the problems and worked together to resolve the matter speedily and efficiently. On behalf of the residents in Hillwood Road I would like to take this opportunity to express utmost gratitude for the co-operation and kind consideration of my fellow colleagues and staff of the departments concerned.
Another point is: I realize that a loophole in our legislation has been ex- ploited in the case of private clubs. Some private clubs operate as food premises open to the public without a restaurant licence and thus avoid the sophiscated formalities in licence application. These establishments register customers as their members. Some of them are even located in the residential portion of multi-storeyed commercial cum residential buildings and as a result create inconvenience to the occupants and give rise to all sorts of problems.
One further point is: exhaust systems installed in many food premises is a nuisance in terms of the noise created and the considerable quantity of em- ission. They pollute the environment and cause hygiene problems. These
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