HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL—1st March 1967 65 OFFICIAL REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS Meeting of 1st March 1967 PRESENT HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR (PRESIDENT) SIR DAVID CLIVE CROSBIE TRENCH, KCMG, MC THE HONOURABLE THE COLONIAL SECRETARY MR MICHAEL DAVID IRVING GASS, CMG THE HONOURABLE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL MR DENYS TUDOR EMIL ROBERTS, QBE, QC THE HONOURABLE THE SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS MR DAVID RONALD HOLMES, CBE, MC, ED THE HONOURABLE THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY MR JOHN JAMES COWPERTHWAITE, CMG, OBE THE HONOURABLE ALEC MICHAEL JOHN WRIGHT, CMG DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS DR THE HONOURABLE TENG PIN-HUI, CMG, OBE DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM DAVID GREGG DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION THE HONOURABLE ROBERT MARSHALL HETHERINGTON, DFC COMMISSIONER OF LABOUR THE HONOURABLE ALASTAIR TODD DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL WELFARE THE HONOURABLE TERENCE DARE SORBY DIRECTOR OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY THE HONOURABLE GEOFFREY MARSH TINGLE DIRECTOR OF URBAN SERVICES THE HONOURABLE KENNETH STRATHMORE KINGHORN DISTRICT COMMISSIONER, NEW TERRITORIES THE HONOURABLE DHUN JEHANGIR RUTTONJEE, CBE THE HONOURABLE KAN YUET-KEUNG, OBE THE HONOURABLE LI FOOK-SHU, OBE THE HONOURABLE FUNG HON-CHU, OBE THE HONOURABLE TANG PING-YUAN THE HONOURABLE TSE YU-CHUEN, OBE THE HONOURABLE KENNETH ALBERT WATSON, OBE THE HONOURABLE WOO PAK-CHUEN, OBE THE HONOURABLE GEORGE RONALD ROSS THE HONOURABLE SZETO WAI THE HONOURABLE WILFRED WONG SIEN-BING, OBE THE HONOURABLE ELLEN LI SHU-PUI, OBE THE HONOURABLE JAMES DICKSON LEACH, OBE IN ATTENDANCE THE DEPUTY CLERK OF COUNCILS MR DONALD BARTON HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL—1st March 1967 66 MINUTES The minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 15th February 1967 were confirmed. PAPERS THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by Command of His Excellency the Governor, laid upon the table the following papers: — Subject LN No Subsidiary LegislatioN: — Pensions Ordinance. Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 1967 ............... 15 Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance. Poisons (Amendment) Regulations 1967 ........…..... 16 Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance. Poisons List (Amendment) Regulations 1967 ...…... 17 Resettlement Ordinance. Resettlement (Amendment) Regulations 1967 ......... 18 Probation of Offenders Ordinance. Probation of Offenders (Amendment) Rules 1967 ... 19 Other Papers:— Draft Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure with Explanatory Memoranda for the year ending 31st March 1968. Report of the Establishment Sub-Committee of Finance Committee for the year 1967-68. Report of the Public Works Sub-Committee of Finance Committee for the year 1967-68. Report on the Public Service 1967. Hong Kong Annual Report 1966. Special Committee on Higher Education Interim Report 1966. Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Kowloon Disturbances, 1966. Annual Report of the School Medical Service Board for the year ended 30th September 1966. HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL—1st March 1967 67 He said:—Sir, in doing so, I beg leave to invite special attention to two of these papers, both of which have already been published. The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Kowloon Disturbances in April last year was published on 20th February in both English and Chinese. The Government is most grateful to Sir Michael HOGAN, the Chairman, and to his fellow Commissioners for the thorough- ness of their investigations and the clarity of their Report, which is now being closely studied. Secondly, I invite attention to the Interim Report of the Special Committee on Higher Education, which was published on 27th February, with a full summary in both English and Chinese. This Report makes a preliminary analysis of Hong Kong's future needs for higher education and makes recommendations for the future work of the Committee, which have been accepted by the Government as a basis for further planning. The Government is much indebted to Sir Albert RODRIGUES and the members of his Committee for this most valuable Interim Report. ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR Honourable Members of the Legislative Council, once again it falls to me to try to give some short account of the year that has passed, and to attempt to look a little into the future. In a year such as 1966, this is not a particularly easy task; for, as we all know, it has been a year full of incident. We have made remarkable progress in many directions: but have also had to suffer one or two unhappy experiences. But before I review these events, I would like once again to thank honourable Members and express to them my sincere personal thanks and appreciation for their continued services to the Colony. It has been a busy year by any standards, and the work falling to this Council and its committees has been very considerable. When to this is added honourable Members' duties on a wide variety of advisory committees, and 'in numerous other activities for the good of the community, the whole I know makes heavy demands on all. Nevertheless, the critical but constructive and informed interest which Members always display is essential to the proper conduct of public business, and provides fresh insights into our problems before decisions are finally taken, which are always most helpful. I said a moment ago that it had been a busy year for Council, and indeed the legislative programme has been a substantial one. 38 Ordinances were passed, and these included such important measures as the Legal Aid Ordinance, the Interpretation Ordinance, the Urban HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL—1st March 1967 68 Council (Amendment) Ordinance, the Hong Kong Export Credit Insur- ance Corporation Ordinance, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council Ordinance, the Medical Clinics (Amendment) Ordinance and the Merchant Shipping (Recruitment of Seamen) Ordinance. 1966 also saw some changes in our procedures. The new system of publishing Bills for general information before they have their first reading will, I hope, assist the public to formulate their views on new legislation and make them known earlier than heretofore. Another innovation has been the introduction of adjournment motions, thus enabling brief debates to be held on matters of current concern to Council. I hope honourable Members will continue to find these useful. Nor were changes confined to the Legislative Council. The membership of the Executive Council was enlarged during the year by the appointment of two more Unofficial Members, giving that Council an unofficial majority also, for the first time. The first of last year's notable events was the honour done us by the visit of Her Royal Highness the Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and Lord Snowdon, during British Week. Her Royal Highness lively interest in all aspects of Hong Kong life endeared her to all whom she met, and I believe she and Lord Snowdon enjoyed their visit as much as we enjoyed having them here. Following this happy occasion, the next major event of the year was a sombre one, when rioting and looting erupted in the streets of Kowloon in April. The report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate this unhappy incident is amongst the papers tabled here today; it shows very clearly how patiently and painstakingly the Commission went about its enquiries; and we are all very much indebted to the members of the Commission for the manner in which they discharged this difficult task. Extensive comment on the Commission's findings would be inappropriate here, but one finding certainly deserves mention; this is, that the action taken by the Police Force was characterized by reason and restraint; with no more force used than was necessary; and, further, that the confidence and skill of the Police in putting an end to the disturbances, with a very small number of casualties, was a tribute to their organization and training. We were subjected to yet another test on June 12th when abnormally heavy rainfall brought life in many parts of Hong Kong and Kowloon to a standstill and caused much loss of life and property. The Police, the Fire Services, the Public Works Department, our public utilities, and, in the clearing-up operations particularly, the Urban Services Department all responded magnificently; greatly aided by the Armed Forces; and by their efforts did much to mitigate the horror and misery of that harrowing day and ensure a quick return to near-normality. A number of major engineering works, however, had to be put in hand at places HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL—1st March 1967 69 where very serious damage had occurred, and these repairs have necessarily taken time to complete. Towards the end of 1966 we were asked to increase our contribution towards the costs of the Garrison here. The then Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr Fred LEE, who had already paid us an earlier visit in August, came out again in November to put the matter to us. After much negotiation, a conditional understanding on arrangements for the future was reached, and will require to be formally considered in the course of these proceedings. I do not propose to deal with this subject at any length here, since the honourable the Financial Secretary will be dealing with it later. But despite the difficulties which we encountered in 1966, it has still, on the whole, been a remarkably successful year. I will not deal here with Government's own financial affairs, since here again the Financial Secretary will be doing so later. I will only say that the strength and resilience of Hong Kong's finances continue to amaze me, used as I am to these phenomena. But, speaking in more general terms, confidence in 'the banking system has been restored, and deposits now stand at a record figure. Trade has been buoyant, and in all categories, imports, domestic exports and re-exports, we have registered gains in terms of value. Imports are up 13% over 1965; domestic exports up 14%; and re-exports up 22%.