FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REV Y
support of over 50,000 locally recruited civil servants.
It is one thing however to be a loyal and dedicated Civil Servant; it is quite another to be in touch with the common people, to know and to sympathise with their fears, their aspirations and their problems, and to represent those views responsibly in the councils of Government. And this is what the Civil Servant cannot do, by virtue of the limitations of his office. Because of this lack of direct communication with public sentiment, the Civil Servant in Hongkong is too often lulled into a false and narrow sense of complacency.
Two Questions
By the end of 1963, Hongkong will have become the largest of Britain's remaining Colonies. Owing to its physical size, less than 400 sq. miles, it is obviously not viable by itself. Therefore it is obvious that if Hongkong is to maintain its "international status quo", British military forces must be stationed in Hongkong, and Britain's allics must be prepared to come to Hongkong's assistance should the need arisc. In- dependence for Hongkong at any time in the foreseeable future should be ruled out as a wishful and impractical pro- position.
What is to be done to strengthen Hongkong's tics with Britain politically? and
What adjustments are to be made to the local con- stitution to give the people of Hongkong a greater sense of participation in Hongkong affairs?
Politically, Hongkong is still very much the quiet and somewhat backward child of the Colonial Office. Recom- mendations put forward by the Governor of Hongkong to the Colonial Office are seldom rejected. The
British average Member of Parliament knows little or nothing about Hong- kong. Only within the past two years, in consequence of British negotiations to enter the Common Market, have we had a selected number of M.P.s come and sec Hongkong at first hand.
The Hongkong Civic Association, one of the two poli- tical bodies in Hongkong, has proposed that the House of Commons establish a bipartisan Parliamentary Sub-Committee to watch over Hongkong affairs. Alternatively, both the Conservative and Labour Parties should set up parliamentary sub-committees.
Related to the Hongkong Civic Association's proposal is the question of the other British colonial territories. Should there be a Colonial Council with Hongkong's representatives sitting on it, or should Hongkong be treated as a special case by the House of Commons, with non-voting representatives sitting eventually in Parliament?
These are broad questions which, in view of Lord Lans- downe's recent refusal to countenance any form of constitu- tional progress for the Colony cannot be constructively dis- cussed at this stage.
Apart from the views of a small but influential lobby group, it is generally conceded that Hongkong is due for à measure of advancement in its local constitutional machinery. The Hongkong Civic Association therefore made the following proposals to Mr Denis Healey, the Labour Party's spokesman on Defence, when he visited Hongkong recently:
(a) Increase the number of elected seats in the Urban Council by two to four seats for the next Urban Council election in 1965.
(b) Bring the Education and Medical Departments under the Urban Council.
1.
October 31
1963
(c) Expand the Legislative Council to include several Elected Urban Councillors.
From what has been stated, it is apparent that there are gwo kinds of status quo relevant to Hongkong. The first relates to Hongkong's external position. If a plebiscite were "lid tomorrow, 99% of the population would vote that Hong- king remain British territory. This is the external status quo of Hongkong, which both Peking and Westminster have accepted and would like to preserve, though perhaps for different reasons.
The second is the internal status quo. There is today a rising swell of public opinion calling for constitutional reform. With Hongkong rapidly developing industrially, and with land values rising out of all proportion to the present standard of living, there is strong public support for adjusting the con- sutution in a manner which will protect Hongkong from be- coming a land of extremes, with the rich becoming richer, and the poor poorer.
There is the further question of encouraging a local patriotism or citizenship awareness. Approximately half of Hongkong's population are native-born; these are the real citizens of Hongkong, who in the course of time will be de- manding a fuller say in governing the territory. Technically they qualify for British nationality, and the Colonial Office has a moral responsibility to see that the rights of these citizens are respected and enhanced.
Then there are many hundreds of thousands of others who first came to Hongkong either as immigrants or as re-
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Page 300 01 344 fugees, and for whom Hongkong has acquired the magical name of "home". These people have nowhere else to go and they look forward to the day when they can proudly call themselves "Hongkonians" in fact as well as in law.
In the special circumstances in which Hongkong exists, it is patent that the political text-book cannot be followed chapter and verse in the government of Hongkong. This applies especially to the Urban Council electorate, which re- presents only about 1% of the population.
It is usual to associate citizenship with voting rights in Western democracies. If Hongkong is to maintain political and economic stability, this concept can only follow an evolu- tionary process. It is left that the franchise should not be so rapidly extended that Hongkong will become a pitched bat- tleground for international political interests.
So we come finally to the type of Government that we hope can evolve in Hongkong: not a continuation of the in- ternal status quo, or of "Government by Benevolent Dictator- ship", but a government that can be likened to a "Functional Democracy".
It is envisaged that Functional Democracy in the Hong- kong context would be the successful adaptation of British political experience to Chinese customs and industriousness, which will continuously raise the standard of living and give birth to a new species of Hongkonians who will in due time assume their natural right to manage their own affairs in a spirit of close interdependence with great Britain and the Free World.
In the follow-
Most people travel by bus sometimes; a large part of the population must do so every day. ing article our correspondent describes the present state of the bus services in the Colony and calls for improvement.
Buses in a Crowd
By R. H. Leary
AT FIRST sight the chief difference between Kowloon Motor Bus and China Motor Bus seems to be that the former play in the First Division whereas the latter have but a Second Division team. This comparison may reflect reasonably accurately the relative proportions of the pair, but not neces- sarily their performance, profitability or public relations, in which respects there is perhaps little to choose between them. That is, of course, unless you have to use one of the systems regularly, in which case the other appears vastly to be preferred.
The brutal physical details of obtaining conveyance within the Colony are to some extent familiar to all, even if only at second-hand. For those who have not made a study of the use and abuse of public vehicles, and would like to see for themselves, I suggest an evening trip up Nathan Road in a No. 1 bus, around 7 p.m. The sights to be seen at some of the stops, especially in Mongkok, are sickening; people throw themselves at buses like cattle channelled into abattoirs, fighting each other and the bus crews, losing all sense of dignity and decency in their furious determination to get aboard.
It is impossible to blame the public for this behaviour. In a situation where everyone cannot board, and there is no regulation, to hang back simply means to give up all chance of getting on. If you must ride, then you must shove, and the devil take the hindmost; it is not for the individual com-
muter to take the general problem on to one pair of shoulders. Nor can the bus crews be wholly blamed, always, for their brusqueness; the law gives them a load limit, the company gives them a schedule, and they must abide by both to the detriment of their relations with the public, which naturally focusses its ill-feeling on the man who enforces the rules rather than him, unseen, who shapes them.
Thus the two groups, majority and minority, find them- selves in a constant state of smouldering ill-feeling, which frequently fames into overt acts of petty violence; and the situation gets worse as time goes by. At whose door is the blame to be laid?
The bus companies, granted monopolies (breached only by the trams and, to a smaller extent, the trains) have failed to carry out the conditions of their franchises, and must bear the odium of this. But at the back of all the trouble is the Hongkong Government. Having given monopoly powers, it has failed signally to enforce, or even to try to enforce, the conditions which alone can ensure the efficient transport of the Colony's swarming masses.
Before 1933 six companies operated buses in Hongkong, three on each side of the harbour. In that year Government invited tenders for two exclusive franchises, which were even- tually given to the Kowloon Motor Bus Co., forerunner of and the Ching Bus Co.,
the present mainland organisation Page 300 of 344
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whose owners set China Motor Bus and took over all operations on the Island. This consolidation may have been a sound enough move at the time; and there was little alter- native immediately after the war but to continue the system.
When the time for renewal came in 1960, however, there was surely reason to examine the record and reappraise the prospects. Nothing of the sort was done, and the Companies were granted continuance of their exclusive franchises for fifteen years, with the option of three successive five-year renewals.
Under their franchises the Companies undertake to provide “adequate and efficient services (in the opinion of Governor in Council)", which are supposed to be enunciated in a Schedule of Services (Public Transport Services Ordinance No. 5 of 1960, with effect from February 15, 1960). If the Road Traffic Ordinance (1957) is not complied with the franchises may be revoked. The buses are licensed under this ordinance, and allotted maximum carrying capacities. It a company fails to provide the "motor vehicles or organisation requisite for carrying on effectively the service to be provided" the Governor in Council may arrange with any other person for carrying on an efficient service.
It must therefore be asked whether the two Companies have provided the vehicles and organisation, and adequate and efficient services. Nowhere, unfortunately, are there laid down any definitions of adequacy or efficiency, so answers to these questions must be, to a degree, subjective.
It has been suggested that the inadequacy only occurs at rush hours, a contention to which there are two replies. The first is that on many routes rush hours seem to be expanding gradually to fill up the day. The other is more fundamental.
A service which is adequate only at certain times of the day is in fact inadequate; it bears a strong resemblance to the curate's egg. It is the duty of the enfranchised Companies tu provide a sufficient service to the public at any and all times during normal running hours, and it is expected from the nature of the operation that there will be from time to time excess capacity. This is something which any private operator of transport knows and manages to live with. Our Companies should learn to live with it, too.
The inadequacy arises because the Companies let the situation run away with them a few years ago, and now they are finding it difficult to purchase enough vehicles to take care of both replacement and the natural expansion of the demand for transport. This has recoiled upon the organisation, with unfortunate results.
crews
One of these is the effect upon public relations. Bus are frequently castigated for rudeness and generally -I-Departure Times from a Kowloon Terminus-
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