諮詢指導處年報 PUBLIC ENQUIRY SERVICE ANNUAL REPORT 1961-1962





HONG KONG

ANNUAL DEPARTMENTAL REPORT

BY THE

CONTROLLER, PUBLIC ENQUIRY SERVICE

FOR THE

 

FINANCIAL YEAR 1961 - 62

PRINTED AND Published by S. Young. GOVERNMENT PRINTER

at the Government Press, Java Road, Hong Kong

EXCHANGE RATES

When dollars are quoted in this Report, they are, unless otherwise stated, Hong Kong dollars. The official rate for conversion to pound sterling is HK$16=£1 (HK$1=1s. 3d.). The official rate for conversion to U.S. dollars is HK$5.714=US$1 (based on £1=US$2.80).

INTRODUCTION

CONTENTS

THE PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS

PART I

Paragraphs

. 1

O

11

PART II

PART III

RECRUITMENT AND TRAIning of StaFF

PART IV

The First Public Enquiry Centre

PART V

. 12 - 16

. 17 - 22

. 23 - 31

32 - 72

32 - 36

37 - 43

44 - 49

50 - 56

57 - 62

63 - 65.

66

67

68

An Analysis of some oF THE ENQUIRIES

General

Property Tax Tenancy Problems Identity Cards . Travel Documents Birth Certificates Government Posts

·

Business Registration Complaints

69 71

PART VI

THE KOWLOON PUBLIC ENQUIRY Centre .

PART VII

THE RECORD kept of DETAILED ENQUIRIES

. 73 - 79

. 80 - 83

PART VIII

The Establishment of a new DeparTMENT .

iii

84

TABLES

Number of enquiries made at the Public Enquiry Centre, Central Government Offices, West Wing (3.7.61—31.3.62) .

Number of enquiries made at the Public Enquiry Centre,

86, Tung Choi Street, Kowloon (6.3.62—31.3.62).

Analysis by Subjects of the detailed enquiries made at the Public Enquiry Centre, Central Government Offices, West Wing (3.7.61—31.3.62) .

Table No.

I

la

II

iv

STAFF

Headquarter Section:

Controller, Public Enquiry Service

Secretary, Public Enquiry Service

Secretary Stenographer

Assistant Information Officer, Class I

Assistant Information Officer, Class II

Clerk in Charge

Clerical Assistant

Typist

Office Attendant

Hong Kong Public Enquiry Centre:

Information Officer i/c

Assistant Information Officer, Class 1

Assistant Information Officer, Class I

Assistant Information Officer, Class II

Kowloon Public Enquiry Centre:

Information Officer i/c

Assistant Information Officer, Class I

Assistant Information Officer, Class I

Assistant Information Officer, Class II

Clerk in Charge

Messenger

Paul K. C. Tsui, M.B.E.,

Administrative Officer, Staff Grade C

G. E. MATHER,

Executive Officer, Class I

Mrs. Lucy HUNG

Miss Vivian CHENG

Miss Hilda CHU

CHAN Cheung

TAM Sik-lim

Miss NG Shui-king

LAM Chung-kwoon

Mrs. Dora LEE

Au Man-piu

Mrs. Laurie KHOE

Mrs. Deborah TENG

Miss Agatha CHIU

Lo Cho-chi, M.B.E.

WANG Sze-hu

Mrs. Jeanette WEI

Tso Ka-cheung

CHANG Hai-kau

1

1

L

PART I

INTRODUCTION

THE tempo of life in Hong Kong has quickened considerably in the post-war years and its people have witnessed many far-reaching social and economic changes. These changes have been reflected in a great increase in the Government's range of activities and responsibilities, together with the rapid growth of its departments and an expanding body of legislation.

2. Not the least significant of the developments which have taken place has been the spectacular growth of the Colony's population, brought about partly by the high rate of natural increase but largely by immigration. A proportion of this population, and particularly a large majority of the new immigrants, are sufficiently unsophisticated to encounter difficulty, when they come up against the great variety of rules and procedures which form part of the machinery of the Colony's Government.

3. For some time past the Hong Kong Government has been deeply conscious of this problem and of the language problem confronting the majority of its citizens in their dealings with its various departments. A problem of language does exist, despite the fact that over 96% of the Public Service is composed of local officers, because English is the official language of the Colony, while Chinese speaking people constitute the great bulk of its population. The Colony's laws are in English. English is the language of the courts and the language in which the Government conducts virtually all its correspondence with the public.

4. As far back as 1845, with the creation of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, the first bridge was constructed by the Government to narrow the gap between itself and the people. This bridge, was built for two way traffic: for assisting in the presentation of official policy to the Chinese public on the one hand, and for helping to assess trends in Chinese public opinion on the other. The Government has two other major bridges in the New Territories Administration and the Informa- tion Services Department.

5. With the passage of time, a vastly increased population, and rapidly changing social and economic conditions, the Government

1

recognized that something more was needed: a more personal body or organization which could assist the individual, as opposed to particular sections of the population, when he had cause to come into contact with the machinery of Government and was ignorant or uncertain of what was required of him or where to turn to for advice and assistance. That there existed a definite need for such a personal service in Hong Kong was agreed upon. The only remaining question was: How best could this need be met?

6. Many proposals directed to this end were carefully examined by the Government. These included the setting up of a Government Trans- lation Unit, the establishment of a Citizens' Advice Bureau similar to those in the United Kingdom, and the adoption of a system based on that of the Danish Ombudsman.

7. Each of these systems had much to commend it but it was considered that, in practice, Hong Kong could not assimilate or make much use of an Ombudsman. In the United Kingdom, Citizens' Advice Bureaux are completely independent of the Government and can there- fore deal with a multiplicity of problems, both between individuals and the individual and the State, in a way that would be inappropriate—if not impossible for a Government agency.

8. Against the limited advantages which might stem from the establishment of a Government Translation Unit engaged in a literal and wholesale translation of the law, must be set the fact that it is unnecessary, and not to be expected, that the public should know the law in detail. Whilst the work of such a unit would give the bulk of the population, who are Chinese, an opportunity to read official translations of the law in their own language, there are very, few laws that more than a handful of the general public-excluding lawyers and civil servants-would want to read in full. Language and phraseology which is not readily understood, even by those whose mother tongue is English, have to be used to ensure accuracy when drafting legislation in English. For the average citizen of Hong Kong, a translated law, with its inevitable translation inaccuracies, would be almost as incomprehensible as one in English and would be liable to mislead rather than to enlighten.

9. After much deliberation the Government finally decided that the most effective solution to the problem would be to institute a straight-

,

*

forward 'Enquiry Service', with one or more 'Enquiry Centres' to which any resident could go for advice on, or explanations of, the services and functions performed by its various departments, and where they could expect to receive helpful guidance and practical assistance should they run into difficulties in their dealings with the Government. The new service, furthermore, was to be allowed to develop along whatever lines seemed best to suit the public's needs.

10. Thus, on the 15th November, 1960, when the Hong Kong Government approved the establishment of a Public Enquiry Service on an experimental basis and under the guidance of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, it took an important step towards further improving its relations with the public and providing the latter with a much needed service. On the same date Mr. Paul K. C. Tsui, M.B.E., J.P., who was then a Senior Administrative Officer, was appointed Controller designate and charged with the responsibility for planning and controlling the Public Enquiry Service.

11. It was not intended that this new venture should replace services provided by any other government department, but rather that its work should supplement the efforts of those departments. Its creation was, in fact, yet another earnest of the Hong Kong Government's intention to bring the Government closer to the People.

PART II

THE PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS

12. Before reaching a final decision on how the Public Enquiry Service was to be organized and administered, the Controller designate's first task was to find out at first hand what enquiry facilities in fact existed in every Government Department. This was no small task and it took the greater part of 3 months to complete. During that time the Controller designate visited the enquiry desks or public waiting rooms of 108 departmental headquarters, sub-offices, centres, clinics and out- stations noting in each case the numbers of callers, the types of enquiries they made and the quality of the answers which they were given. Many of these visits lasted the whole day, but the industry which went into this one-man survey did not go unrewarded, because from it there began to emerge a clearer pattern of the departmental procedures which were causing the public the greatest difficulty. The Controller designate sub- mitted his findings, together with a summary of the reports which he

3

had received from 39 Heads of Departments on their existing depart- mental enquiry facilities, to the Colonial Secretary on the 9th February, 1961.

13. During the same period, mid-November 1960 to the end of January 1961, the Controller designate also sounded out the views of a number of prominent citizens, experienced civic leaders, Kaifong chair- men, newspaper editors, social workers, senior unofficial Justices of the Peace, heads of business houses and many ordinary people on how best his new service could help the man-in-the-street. Advice and suggestions, some of which turned out to be extremely valuable, were offered un- stintingly at this series of informal meetings.

14. The Controller designate turned his attention next to the verna- cular press, because he saw in the readers' questions in the correspond- ence columns or enquiry sections of Hong Kong's Chinese newspapers a foretaste of what his own staff were likely to be asked when the first Public Enquiry Centre came into operation. After a very large number of these questions had been collected, translated and analysed, the Government Departments most directly concerned with their subject matter were asked to supply authoritative answers to them for the Public Enquiry Service's future use. These replies were, in fact, of immense value once the Service had started.

15. In February 1961, after the Finance Committee of Legislative Council had approved provision of the necessary funds for the new organization, Mr. Paul K. C. Tsui was gazetted Controller of the Public Enquiry Service and began to gather a small staff around him in his headquarters on the second floor of Central Government Offices, West Wing. With the assistance of an executive officer, a secretary stenog- rapher and one clerk a start was made on the formidable task of select- ing and arranging the fund of sound information about the Government and its different departments which the Controller had been steadily collecting for the past three months.

16. The site chosen for the first Public Enquiry Centre was in the heart of the Central District of Hong Kong Island: the entrance hall to the West Wing of Central Government Offices in Queen's Road Central. The space available was limited but an imaginative architect in the Public Works Department (Mr. T. T. WONG, B.Sc., A.R.I.B.A.) put it to the best use and designed a very attractive and comfortable counter (see Plate I).

4

PART III

RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING OF STAFF

17. Recruitment began in February 1961 for a woman Information Officer to supervise the work of the first Public Enquiry Centre and 3 Assistant Information Officers. Persons were wanted who were capable and intelligent, able to speak a number of Chinese dialects in addition to English and adept in dealing with people from all walks of life. The task of choosing suitable candidates to fill these posts was made that much lighter by the presence on the selection boards of Miss SHIN Tak- hing, M.B.E., J.P., a former Secretary-General of the Y.W.C.A., Mr. TSE Yu-chuen, O.B.E., J.P., a leading figure in the Kaifong movement, and Messrs. T. D. SORBY and T. C. CHENG, two experienced Administrative Officers.

18. The newly recruited information officers were subjected to an intensive course of training which lasted from the 2nd April until the 30th June, 1961. They were taught how to handle with courtesy, tact and confidence any enquiry on any routine aspect of the work performed by the various Government Departments. It was brought home to them most strongly that they were to go out of their way to be as sympathetic and as helpful as possible when answering the public's enquiries.

19. In the course of these 3 months they were all given a thorough grounding in the workings of Government. They visited the headquarters of every department and a very large number of sub-offices. Their visits provided them with a very good indication of the work undertaken by each department and an insight into the way each conducts its day to day affairs. At the end of these visits the information officers were in a position to supply an enquirer not only with the addresses of the Government's many different establishments and the titles of the officers concerned with a great variety of subjects, but also precise directions on how to reach them, including particulars of the 'bus, ferry, tram or train to take, and the room or floor to go to on his arrival.

20. Between visits the information officers attended a series of tutorials on the Government, which had been arranged by the Control- ler, and read extensively. Numerous Government reports and publica- tions were studied, in addition to certain of the Colony's laws and the material which had been willingly supplied by nearly every Head of Department on the work of his department. Particular attention was paid to the multifarious licensing procedures, the housing problem, certain

5

forms of taxation and identity cards, for it was anticipated that these would form the subjects of a number of enquiries after the first Public Enquiry Centre had been opened.

21. Meantime the staff of the headquarters section of the Public Enquiry Service were busy compiling reference works for the informa- tion officers' future use. An index to Government, showing which sub- jects are handled by which officers, and containing over 1,300 entries, was one of these. Separate files were opened on every department of Government. These contained copies of their leaflets, forms, pamphlets and press releases issued during the previous 6 months. The major work, however, was the production of more than 1,500 cards giving details of every department's historical background; its services and functions; its organization and distribution of business; its administrative procedures and its answers to the questions which the Controller had sent it (see paragraph 14).

22. Thus, by the end of June 1961 the final preparations had been completed and everything was set for the opening of the first Public Enquiry Centre on July 3rd. Although favourable comments had been received from many quarters, once the news that the Government intended to establish such a service had spread, the general public's reaction and the demands which it would make on the Public Enquiry Service were unknown factors.

PART IV

THE FIRST PUBLIC ENQUIRY CENTRE

23. On the 3rd July, 1961, without undue ceremony and with only newspaper reporters and photographers present, the first Public Enquiry Centre commenced operations. By the end of that day 248 callers had made enquiries at the Centre-proof, if proof had been needed, of the wisdom of the Hong Kong Government's decision to provide such a service for its citizens. At the end of the first week 1,353 questions had been answered by the Centre's staff of 4. The second week saw 1,564 callers assisted with their problems and during the 23 full working days from the 3rd - 31st July a total of 6,681 members of the public had made use of the service.

24. The public response was far greater than had been expected and, at peak periods in the mornings and afternoons, callers stretched in an arc three or more deep round the entire length of the Enquiry

6

Counter. The Press welcomed the opening of the first Centre with enthusiasm and gave wide coverage to its development and progress. A large number of senior Government officials, Councillors, Kaifong chairmen, editors, prominent businessmen, lawyers, doctors and other civic leaders paid visits to the Centre in its early days to examine its workings and were more than satisfied with the service being provided.

25. Table I at the end of this report shows that 73,567 enquiries were handled at the Centre in the 9 months from July 1961 to March 1962: 22,631 and 24,363 respectively in the last two quarters of 1961 and 26,573 by the end of the first three months of 1962.

26. From the very beginning the public politely ignored the fact that the Public Enquiry Service was founded to offer help and advise on matters solely connected with the Hong Kong Government, and brought along all manner of problems and worries, a number of which were the more proper concern of a solicitor, marriage guidance council- lor, tax consultant, child welfare expert or 'Alcoholics Anonymous'. But whether their problems touched on government or non-government affairs, most callers valued the sympathetic hearing they received as highly as any assistance which they were given. A friendly smile and an understanding approach did much for even those who could not be helped.

27. Before an attempt is made at analysing the subject matter of the 26,024 detailed enquiries which were asked during this period, a word or two on the method adopted to answer them would not be out of place. When time and the numbers waiting for attention permitted, each caller was allowed an uninterrupted opportunity to get the problem off his chest. It came as an immense relief to many people just to be able to communicate their troubles to a third partly, and sometimes straight- way led to the removal of their cause of distress or anxiety. The time taken for this explanation averaged between 3 to 5 minutes, though 10 to 15 minutes was not uncommon. The information officers then usually spent the next few minutes in cross-questioning the callers to elicit additional relevant facts or to throw light on any obscure points in their stories. With the problem clear in their minds the information officers would take a further 2 to 10 minutes to consult their reference works and deliver their replies. In many instances this would be followed by the caller asking a number of supplementary questions.

28. The staff of the Public Enquiry Service rounded off every reply they gave by advising the caller of the whereabouts of the particular

7

i

.

Government servant he should contact for further guidance or help in solving his problem. When necessary appointments were made for members of the public to see the appropriate Government official or officials and notes of introduction were handed out.

29. In keeping with the Controller's policy, the information officers confined their replies to the written material which had been supplied and approved by the Heads of Departments for release to the public. Questions on policy, legal or highly technical matters were not answered -or only in very general terms-and the callers asking them were invariably directed to the department concerned or advised to consult a solicitor. Where information on any particular question was lacking the question was despatched to the appropriate department or depart- ments on a 'Question & Answer Form', which the addressees were asked to return to the Public Enquiry Service within a week, and the caller was given the option of visiting the department which dealt with his problem or returning to the Public Enquiry Centre a week later for his reply.

30. On receipt of these completed ‘Question & Answer Forms', the majority of which contained exceedingly helpful replies, they were pasted onto cards, given titles-e.g. 'BIRTH CERTIFICATE, AMENDMENT OF CHILD'S NAME ON-REGISTRAR GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT', 'BOOKS, PRO- CEDURE FOR REGISTERING SECRETARIAT FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS'-and inserted in the appropriate department's section of the records housed at the Public Enquiry Centre.

31. Some 500 of these forms were sent to 36 different Government Departments during the period under review. The adoption of this system had many advantages, chief of which was that it led to the rapid growth of the Public Enquiry Service's fund of sound information on the functions, services and administrative procedures of the various departments. The replies thus recorded were always available to refer to if other members of the public asked identical or very similar ques- tions, and saved the departments being bothered twice with the same enquiry. The use of these authoritative written replies also ensured that the information officers' answers were not at variance with those which the departments themselves were giving to the public.

31. It was discovered, too, that the 'Question & Answer Form' system was a quick and efficient way of obtaining the information needed to reply to the letters which arrived containing a number of enquiries touching upon the work of different departments. An average

8

1

of 20 such letters had to be answered each month. Two thirds of them were written in Chinese and replies to their authors were sent off in the same language. The remaining third of this correspondence was con- ducted in English. Although the majority of these letters came from residents of Hong Kong, people from as far afield as Malaya, Singapore, China, Thailand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America also wrote to the Public Enquiry Service for advice and information.

PART V

AN ANALYSIS OF SOME OF THE ENQUIRIES

GENERAL

32. In Table I at the end of this report the total numbers of ques- tions which were asked each month at the Hong Kong Public Enquiry Centre from July 1961 to March 1962 have been divided into ‘detailed' and 'simple enquiries'. A word or two is necessary to explain this division.

33. 'Simple enquiries' may be defined as those questions which the information officers were able to answer fully and satisfactorily—for example: How much will a pedlar hawker licence cost me? Where do I pay my rates? Which department handles salaries tax? Where do I go to get a learner's licence to drive a car? Could you give me the address of the Labour Department? Where is the nearest branch office of the Registration of Persons? Is there a centre near my home where I can have my dog inoculated against rabies? Which department issues British passports?

34. 'Detailed enquiries' were the more complex types of questions which, as outlined in paragraph 27 above, claimed the information officers' attention for a much longer period-for example: I wish to start a modest hire car business. I know, I think, how to obtain a hire car driver's licence, but can you tell me if I will be allowed to run such a business with just one car? (After the caller's question had been answered, and it had been explained to him quite clearly how to apply for a hire car driver's licence and the procedure to follow to register his business, he asked 5 supplementary questions.) Do I have to provide a garage for my car? Will the Traffic Office examine my car every year to see if it is roadworthy? Are there any restrictions on the hours during which I may ply for business? Has a limit been imposed on the fees which I may collect from my passengers? What is the annual licence

9

fee for a hire car? Or: My husband died two weeks ago. Do I have to tell any Government Department that I'm closing down the small shop which he used to run because I can't afford to operate it?-followed by this series of supplementary questions: Must I produce a will before the bank will let me have his savings? My husband didn't make a will so please advise me what to do? I'm looking for somewhere cheaper to live and have had to take my child away from a private school because I must cut down expenses now that my husband is dead. How can I get my 10-year old daughter a free place in a Government school? Am I entitled to apply for a room in one of the resettlement estates?

35. With these kinds of detailed enquiries the information officers had to lend a very sympathetic ear, carefully explain the administrative procedures of other departments, offer useful suggestions and practical advice, and attempt to reassure the doubting or undecided. Having pointed out all possible sources of help to such callers, it also fell to the information officers' lot to guide them about priorities.

36. The 26,024 detailed enquiries made during this 9-month period touched upon over 500 different aspects of the work of the great majority of Government Departments. Only a handful, such as the Audit and Manpower Departments, escaped the enquirers' attention. In Table II these enquiries have been grouped according to subjects under 21 major headings. Approximately 60% of the enquiries were on the following 10 subjects:

Subject

Property Tax and Personal Assessment

***

No. of enquiries

4,361

Tenancy Problems

Identity Cards

Entry Permits

Birth Certificates

Business Registration

Complaints

British Passports

...

...

2,356

...

+

2,141

...

Certificates of Identity, Visas and Re-entry Permits

Government Posts

***

1,619

1,293

1,014

966

913

...

+

+4

696

506

15,865

+

Total

PROPERTY TAX

37. The number of enquiries about property tax soared from 84 and 54 in July and August, 1961, respectively, to 2.501 in September of that year. This sharp increase occurred in September for two reasons. First, legislation had been passed on 29th March, 1961, which amended

10

the Inland Revenue Ordinance and varied the charges for property tax from 1st April, 1961. Secondly, most ratepayers did not receive their demands for payment of the tax until towards the end of August.

38. Very broadly, as a result of the amendments made to the Inland Revenue Ordinance earlier in the year, property tax was to be levied at the full standard rate on property subject to the tax and which was not subject to control under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. Where property was subject to such control, tax would continue to be charged at half the standard rate. Property which was occupied by its owner exclusively for residential purposes was relieved from liability to property tax. 'Owner' in this context included a beneficial owner, a tenant for life, a mortgagor and a person who was making payments to a co-operative society registered under the Co-operative Societies Ordinance for the purpose of purchasing a building or part thereof.

39. The record number of enquiries answered at the Public Enquiry Service in the course of a single day stands at 559. This figure was reached on 4th September, 1961, when over half the callers declared themselves confused by the new provisions relating to the charge of property tax.

40. Some owners armed with demand notes for payment of the tax claimed that they had been wrongly charged-either by being charged the full instead of the half rate, or by being charged at all when they were owner-occupiers of their properties. A number wished to know the methods used to calculate the tax, or how to obtain a refund of the tax which they had already paid. Others requested to be briefed on the correct way to lodge an objection to their assessment for property tax. Some were perplexed because they had not received demands for pay- ment as in former years, not realizing that as owner-occupiers they were now exempt from this form of taxation.

41. Many property owners asked to be primed with more informa- tion on the subject of taxation according to personal assessment, once it had been explained to them that, in many cases, partial relief could be obtained by electing to be taxed in that manner. More than a few property owners were uncertain whether or not their premises were subject to control under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance and wished to know where they could obtain documentary evidence to settle the matter and, perhaps, convince the Inland Revenue Department that they were only liable for the lower rate of property tax. Others asked to be given definitions of 'beneficial owner' and 'tenant for life' and

11

advice on whether or not they could include themselves in these cate- gories for tax purposes. An even greater number could not appreciate that they were not exempt from the tax as owner-occupiers if they rented out part of the flat in which they lived.

42. It is one of the functions of the Controller of the Public Enquiry Service to draw the attention of other Heads of Departments to matters about which many enquiries are made and, in conjunction with them, to prepare standard replies to questions on their work which are frequently repeated at the Public Enquiry Centres. Before the middle of September 1961, and after consultations with the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, the first of these standard replies had been prepared by the Controller on the subject of property tax. 1,000 copies in both English and Chinese were initially run off and given to the staff of the Enquiry Centre to hand out to members of the public. Their distribution cut down the large amount of time which the information officers had been devoting to answering enquiries on property tax, and provided callers at the Centre with a valuable guide on the subject which they could take home and study at their leisure.

43. The Public Enquiry Service, constituted to assist the man-in-the- street and for improving public relations, was thus proving itself an additional instrument for measuring the impact of the Government on the People. Great credit must be given to the 4 information officers who manned the Hong Kong Enquiry Centre during the month of September for the cheerful way in which they met the public's demands and successfully answered over 9,000 enquiries.

TENANCY PROBLEMS

44. During the year 1961-62, the building boom which Hong Kong has been enjoying for the past decade continued, yet, paradoxically, an average of 350 people visited the Enquiry Centre each month in the hope of obtaining a solution to their housing problems.

45. Of these 350 people who came each month, approximately 25 made enquiries about the Government's low cost housing schemes or the estates run by the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society. Another 50 required information on the Govern- ment's multi-storey resettlement estates and cottage resettlement areas. The large majority-over 260 every month-had accommodation but were troubled by tenancy problems. The last-mentioned group asked

12

·

2,356 detailed enquiries in the 9 months from July 1961 to March 1962, and it is their enquiries which are examined below.

46. Some tenants of uncontrolled premises feared eviction. Others were extremely worried by, or wished to query, the rent increases demanded by their landlords. Many sought assistance in the dispute which they had with their principal tenant, sub-tenant or landlord, as the case might be, over such matters as the payment of rates, arrears of rent, breaches of an agreement, the redecoration of the premises, pay- ment for the upkeep of communal facilities, and the installation of separate water or electricity meters. A number of people who had paid out large sums in key money or construction fees to their landlords without obtaining receipts, and others who had made only verbal agreements with their landlords, wished to know how and where they stood when faced with demands for increased rents or notices to quit.

47. The vast majority of these enquiries, however, came from tenants of premises which were subject to control under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance who wished to be apprised of their legal rights. Many were ignorant of the existence of the terms 'standard rent' and 'permitted rent', or did not understand their meanings. Still more wanted to know how they could fight against an eviction notice. A very large number who had discovered that their landlords had applied to the Tenancy Tribunal for their properties to be excluded from the further application of the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, usually in order to demolish and rebuild the controlled premises in which they— the tenants were living, required information and advice on the proper way to oppose their landlords' applications. As a follow-up to this, many a tenant wished to know whether or not he would be entitled to receive any compensation if his landlord was successful with his applica- tion for an exclusion order. There was another group of tenants, this time those whose landlords' applications had been accepted, who wanted to be told how to appeal against the decisions of the Tenancy Tribunal, or who were not satisfied with the amount of compensation awarded by the latter and wished to know if there was anything which they could do about it.

48. 600 copies-46 in English and 554 in Chinese-of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs' 'Simple Guide to the Landlord and Tenant Ordin- ance' were given out to callers on request or to supplement the information officers' replies.

13

49. Unlike property tax, there are no sudden or violent fluctuations to record in the numbers of detailed enquiries asked each month at the Centre on tenancy matters: the monthly total was always between 250 and 300.

IDENTITY CARDS

50. Under the Registration of Persons Ordinance, 1960, all persons within the Colony aged 6 years and above, apart from those specially exempted, are required to register for a new type of identity card when called upon to do so by Orders issued by the Governor and published in the Government Gazette. (The responsibility for registering children or dependants aged between 6 and 17 years falls on their parents or guardians.) Similarly all persons intending to take up residence in Hong Kong must register for an identity card within 10 days of their date of arrival.

51. Thus, since every man and woman over the age of 17 in the Colony is personally affected by this legislation, it is not surprising to discover that, during the 9 months ending 31st March, 1962, 2,141 people made detailed enquiries about the procedures relating to the issue, amendment or cancellation of identity cards at the Public Enquiry Centre in Hong Kong.

52. The majority of residents and newcomers to the Colony alike have come to appreciate the value of possessing an identity card for, as the Commissioner of Registration has aptly remarked in one of the explanatory pamphlets which he issues to the public: 'Experience has shown that a sure means of identification is useful to everyone. Your identity card enables you to prove exactly who you are and, equally important, that you are not somebody else. Many employers, shops, offices and Government Departments rely on identity cards to identify people applying for jobs, credit facilities, licences and so on.'

53. An average of 238 people brought their problems on identity cards and the registration system to the Enquiry Centre each month. Many of these problems had a direct bearing on the work of more than one Government Department as, for example, when relatives or friends of persons who had entered the Colony by illegal means (and sometimes the illegal immigrants themselves) sought advice on how they might regularize their position (with the Immigration Department) and obtain identity cards (from the Registration of Persons Office.)

54. A source of worry to many of Hong Kong's Chinese residents -at least until they had called at the Enquiry Centre and had had the

14

matter fully explained to them-was the selection of a name to use when their turn came to register for a new identity card. Some of these callers had as many as 5 or 6 'names', in addition to their aliases, because they happened to have been born into one of the large number of families in the Colony which continues the practice of giving the newly born child an 'interim' name or names until his proper family name is bestowed upon him, usually on the eve of his marriage. Such a person's old identity card might bear one of his 'interim' names, or his proper family name, or the name given to him on starting school, or the name which he himself took when he began to earn his living.

55. Much wider and more complicated issues were linked to the problem of names on identity cards. It was discovered that almost all the callers who had not kept to one name in their dealings with the various Government Departments were invariably experiencing difficulty in establishing their true identities, or substantiating their claims to property, academic qualifications and legacies, or obtaining licences, British passports and so on. It was not uncommon to find a person holding a vaccination certificate, a birth certificate, a school certificate, an identity card, a degree or professional diploma and a shop licence or other permit all made out in different names, yet all belonging to one and the same man.

56. During the period, over 1,500 copies of the Commissioner of Registration's pamphlet entitled, 'Your New Identity Card', were dis- tributed to callers at the Enquiry Centre. In addition, a similar number of forms which the public must complete on their departure from or return to the Colony, or when their turn comes to register themselves and their children for a new identity card, or when they wish to notify the Commissioner of any change in their registered particulars, were handed out.

TRAVEL DOCUMENTS

57. A total of 3,418 enquiries on travel documents were answered at the Hong Kong Public Enquiry Centre from 3rd July, 1961 to 31st March, 1962. This meant in fact that, in addition to the 484 with their property tax and personal assessment enquiries, the 350 with their housing problems and the 238 with their identity card worries, a further 379 were visiting the Centre each month to find out more about the procedures relating to the issue of travel documents, either for them- selves or on behalf of their relatives and friends abroad.

15

58. The largest number of these enquiries-1,619-were on the subject of entry permits and came from Hong Kong residents who were trying to get permission for their relatives, living in China or Taiwan, to be admitted into the Colony for a visit or, more usually, to take up permanent residence. There was an appreciable increase in the numbers of these enquiries during the last week in August and throughout September of 1961, after it became obligatory for persons wishing to visit Hong Kong from Macau to obtain an entry permit from the British Consulate there if the only travel document they held was a Macau Police Identity Card. This measure which came into effect on 31st August, 1961, was designed to enable the Director of Immigration to regulate and scrutinize the flow of people from Macau into and out of the Colony.

59. Another 1,293 people sought advice from the information officers at the Centre on how to obtain certificates of identity, visas and Hong Kong re-entry permits. This group of callers consisted in the main of Chinese residents who were not British subjects but who wished to obtain suitable documents in order to travel abroad. Some were intent on furthering their education in Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia; others wished to undergo a professional course of train- ing abroad; some were travelling for pleasure; many were businessmen who had to go overseas to represent their firm's interests or to find outlets for their factory's products, and some of the people who came to the Centre needed these documents so as to be able to take advantage of offers of employment in the United Kingdom.

60. The remaining 506 enquiries on travel documents were concerned with the issue of British passports, largely for the same reasons as those outlined in the preceding paragraph. The majority of them were straightforward requests for a detailed explanation of the procedure which an applicant had to follow to obtain a passport. The explanation usually had to be accompanied by definitions of such terms as: 'sponsor', 'guarantor', 'British subject by birth, descent, marriage, registration, naturalization or annexation of territory' and 'British protected person', and was often followed by a description of how the caller could become a naturalized British subject, or post-register his birth, or apply to be registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies.

61. The problem of different names on identity cards, birth certi- ficates and other personal documents, referred to in paragraphs 54 and 55 above, again confronted many callers in their quest for a travel

16

document of one kind or another or tended to impede their chances of becoming naturalized British subjects.

62. Most of the enquirers, particularly those who hoped to go abroad to work or study, were anxious to be given as much information as possible about the way of life, cost of living, climate, employment prospects, wages, income tax or the standard of the educational establishments in their country of destination. The many booklets prepared by the Central Office of Information, London, and supplied to the Public Enquiry Service by Hong Kong's Information Services Department, provided much of this information on Commonwealth countries, and copies were distributed to interested callers.

BIRTH CERTIFICATES

63. 805 people, out of a total of 1,014 making enquiries about birth certificates, wished to be taken step by step through the procedures in force in the Registrar General's Department for the post-registration of births and the subsequent issue of birth certificates. It was evident that they, in common with the bulk of the Colony's population, had come to appreciate the importance attached to the possession of a birth certificate and wished to lose no more time before obtaining one.

64. There were those, for example, who had discovered on applying to the Immigration Department for a British passport, or an emergency certificate, that they were required to produce a certificate to support their claim to Hong Kong birth. Others wished to procure a certificate because they intended to claim British nationality when they registered for their new identity cards and wanted to have documentary evidence to show to the staff of the Registration of Persons Office. Parents who had neglected to register their child's birth-despite the fact that registra- tion is compulsory under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance -had found, when the time came for the child to start school, that most headmasters wished to sight a copy of a prospective pupil's birth certificate before they were prepared to enrol him. There were applicants for jobs wanting to post-register their births because employers had demanded to see not only their identity cards but also their birth certificates. Others who were hoping to be resettled, or who had applied for accommodation in one of the Hong Kong Housing Authority's estates, felt that it would advance their cause if they were able to produce birth certificates for inspection, and so asked to be briefed on the procedures connected with the post-registration of births. Most of these callers who wanted birth certificates, however, were young people

17

born in the Colony during the Japanese occupation when the registration of births was suspended. Under modern conditions in Hong Kong the possession of a birth certificate as an aid to establishing one's age, identity or nationality has become something of a necessity.

65. The other 20% of these enquiries were from people whose births had been registered but who wished to acquire, some for the first time, copies of their birth certificates, or to add to or to alter the names on the ones which they already held.

GOVERNMENT POSTS

66. In July and August of 1961 some 500 young men and women fresh from school, technical college or university called at the Enquiry Centre to find out what opportunities there were for employment with the Hong Kong Government. During the remainder of the period under review an average of 65 similar enquiries were answered each month. Although a small percentage of these callers were content to accept any kind of a job until it was time for them to go up to university, or whilst they were waiting to hear if their applications for a job or a place in a college overseas had been successful, the large majority earnestly desired to make a career for themselves in the Hong Kong Civil Service. In the last-mentioned group, some were only interested in finding out every- thing they could about a particular post, such as that of administrative officer, nurse, revenue inspector, clerk, social welfare officer, architect, typist and so on. Others were uncertain of what they wanted to do and asked for information on appointments, salaries, promotion prospects and conditions of service in general.

BUSINESS REGISTRATION

67. Approximately 100 people came to the Enquiry Centre in the West Wing of Central Government Offices every month because they had started, or were about to start, some form of business and wished to learn: (a) if they were required to register it with the Government, (b) when and how to apply for registration, (c) if their business was exempt from the fee imposed by the Business Registration Ordinance, 1959, (d) where to obtain a business registration certificate and (e) whether a branch establishment had to be separately registered.

68. With very few exceptions, these callers were primarily interested in the establishment of an unpretentious one-man business. After deliver- ing their replies to questions on business registration, the information

18

Hong Kond

A

Today

CITY MALL ANY GALLERY

„28" MAY 4 MAY 196),

HONG KONG GOVERNMENT

PUBLIC ENQUIRY SERVICE

PLATE 1: THE HONG KONG PUBLIC ENQUIRY CENTRE

The three Assistant Information Officers in the foreground are (left to right) Mr. Au Man-piu, Mrs. Laurie KHOE and Mrs. Deborah TENG, Mrs. Dora LEE, Information Officer in charge, is seated in the background.

Th

舉,

Photograph by South China Morning Post, Ltd. PLATE II: OPENING OF THE KOWLOON PUBLIC ENQUIRY CENTRE, 5TH MARCH, 1962 Mr. Parkin WONG, O.B.E., J.P., an elder statesman of the Kaifong Movement, formally opening the Centre watched by the Controller, Public Enquiry Service and the Information Officer in charge, Miss Agatha CHIU.

officers seized upon the opportunity to acquaint a good many of their questioners with details of the procedures for obtaining the licences or permits they needed from other Government Departments before starting or continuing with their businesses.

COMPLAINTS

69. Miscellaneous complaints, lodged at the Enquiry Centre at the rate of 77 a month, warrant inclusion in the catalogue of detailed enquiries in Table II of this report, not so much because of the lengths to which the information officers had to go to answer them, but on account of the inordinate amount of time which they were obliged to spend patiently listening to 696 callers unburdening themselves of their grievances.

70. A third of these people needed advice and information on reporting sanitary nuisances, building defects and industrial abuses, or demanded something be done about the presence of squatters on their roofs, the existence of fire hazards near their homes, or the noise and 'danger from unregistered factories in their neighbourhood. This group of people expected and received every assistance, but very few of the other 450 complainants wanted action from the information officers. All that they asked for was to be given an attentive and sympathetic audience whilst they gave vent to their indignation at, say, the cost of living, the shoddy goods sold to them by a private firm, their spouse's infidelity, society in general, a neighbour's inconsiderate behaviour or the ingratitude of their offspring.

71. A number of these complaints, or monologues, lasted anything up to an hour, but the information officers always did their best to soothe each caller's ruffled feelings and send him on his way in a much happier frame of mind.

72. This ends the attempt to analyse 60% of the 26,024 detailed enquiries which were answered by a staff of 4 at the Public Enquiry Centre in Hong Kong from July 1961 to March 1962. The subjects on which the remaining 10,159 enquiries were asked are indicated in Table II of this report.

PART VI

THE KOWLOON PUBLIC ENQUIRY CENTRE

73. On 20th September, 1961, barely 21 months after the opening of the experimental Enquiry Centre in Hong Kong, the Finance Com-

19

mittee of Legislative Council approved the funds necessary for the establishment of a Public Enquiry Centre in Kowloon, and the search began for premises in that city and for suitable persons to train up to man the new centre.

74. There were four main reasons behind the decision to open an Enquiry Centre in Kowloon. First, the one in Hong Kong was proving a tremendous success in meeting the needs of the public. For the first time, perhaps, the man-in-the-street was being given the information he wanted to learn from the Government, rather than the information which the Government thought he ought to know. Secondly, the success of the Hong Kong Centre was placing a great strain on its small staff, who had had to answer 6,681 enquiries in July, 6,741 in August and 9,209 in September, and there was just not the room at the enquiry counter to accommodate extra officers to help them out. Thirdly, it was discovered, from the polite questioning of every caller by the information officers, that over 44% of the people who made detailed enquiries came from Kowloon and the New Territories, and that the great majority of them had crossed the harbour to Hong Kong specially to seek a solution' to their problems. Fourthly, the Chairmen of a large number of Kaifong Associations in both Kowloon and Hong Kong, the Kowloon Residents' Association, the major vernacular newspapers and many prominent citizens had voiced their keen interest in and support for an Enquiry Centre in Kowloon.

75. In November 1961, a small but very suitable ground floor office was found for the centre in a new building at 86, Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon. Mong Kok was chosen because it is a centre of communications and one of Kowloon's more densely populated and rapidly expanding districts.

76. From the beginning of December 1961 until the end of February 1962, the 4 newly recruited information officers who were to staff the Kowloon Enquiry Centre underwent the same intensive course of train- ing as that described in paragraphs 18-20 above.

77. On 5th March, 1962, at a short ceremony attended by Govern- ment officials, Chairmen of Kaifong Associations, leading citizens and representatives of the press, Mr. Parkin WONG, O.B.E., J.P., formally opened the Kowloon Public Enquiry Centre (see Plate II). After the opening the Controller conducted Mr. WONG and the Honourable Mr. P. C. M. SEDGWICK, the then acting Secretary for Chinese Affairs, on a tour of inspection of the premises.

20

78. In the 21 full working days from March 6th to 31st, the staff of the new centre handled 3,260 enquiries at the rate of 155 a day (see Table Ia). An analysis of the detailed enquiries asked in Kowloon during this short period showed that they were similar in type and frequency to the questions asked by the public at the Hong Kong Enquiry Centre.

79. At the suggestion of the Commissioner of Registration of Persons, the Kowloon Enquiry Centre also took over many of the duties of his Mong Kok sub-bureau after its closure on 10th March, 1962. The information officers distributed, and in many cases helped the public to complete, copies of the Commissioner's various forms and ensured that completed forms handed in at the centre were properly acknowl- edged before forwarding them on to the Commissioner's headquarters.

PART VII

THE RECORD KEPT OF DETAILED ENQUIRIES

80. Two of the main functions of the Public Enquiry Service are first, to draw the attention of Heads of Government Departments to matters about which many enquiries are received: and secondly, to prepared standard replies to questions which are frequently repeated for distribution to the public at the Enquiry Centres. Neither of these tasks could be attempted properly until the numbers, nature and frequencies of the public's enquiries were known and had undergone an analysis. Records therefore had to be kept.

81. From July 3rd until the end of September 1961, the hard pressed information officers at the Hong Kong Enquiry Centre were able to do little more than record the numbers and brief titles of the subjects of the detailed enquiries asked each day. At the end of October, however, when 450 of that month's total of 2,971 detailed enquiries had been noted down verbatim by the staff, a little more was known about the subject-matter and the way in which the callers framed their questions. Much more needed to be known before accurate assessments could be formed, but at least a start had been made. The numbers of questions recorded in this manner rose steadily each month until, by the end of March 1962, the information officers were able to copy down verbatim 85% of the detailed enquiries they were asked.

82. October's list of 450 questions was edited, entitled 'The Personal Problems of the Man-In-The-Street in Hong Kong', and copies of it

21

were sent to the Head of every Government Department. The same thing happened, too, with 538 of November's total of 2,600 detailed enquiries which the staff had managed to record verbatim.

83. Because the production of this monthly intelligence report was a little too much for the Department's small headquarters staff of 5, it was decided to change to quarterly issues until the 2 Assistant Informa- tion Officers, recruited in January, had been trained to help with its compilation, the analysis of the detailed enquiries and the preparation of standard replies. These 2 officers had completed their training by the end of the period under review. It is hoped that, with the extra staff available in the year ahead, it will be possible to pay even greater attention to the public's needs and measures for the improvement of the Public Enquiry Service.

PART VIII

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW DEPARTMENT

84. On 27th January, 1962, it was decided to establish the Public Enquiry Service as an independent department under the Controller, Public Enquiry Service. This decision was reached because the experi- mental Service, which had been set up in November 1960 under the guidance of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, had proved that it could and did fill a definite need not fully met in any other way by the existing Government Departments. Mr. Paul K. C. Tsui, who had been promoted from Senior Administrative Officer to Administrative Officer, Staff Grade C on 6th August, 1961, retained the post of Controller and thus became the first Head of the Public Enquiry Service Department.

HONG KONG,

18th July, 1962.

PAUL K. C. Tsui, Controller, Public Enquiry Service.

22

TABLE I

NUMBER OF ENQUIRIES MADE AT THE PUBLIC ENQUIRY CENTRE,

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OFFICES, WEST WING

3RD JULY, 1961-31ST March, 1962

Month

Detailed Enquiries Simple Enquiries

Total

July

August

September

October

November.

December...

January

February

...

3,275

3,406

6,681

3,218

3,523

6,741

4,942

4,267

9,209

2,971

5,146

8,117

***

...

2,600

6,040

8,640

2,054

5,552

7,606

...

2,540

7,162

9,702

2,182

...

5,991

8,173

March

...

...

2,242

6,456

8,698

TOTAL

26,024*

47,543

73,567

* See Table II for analysis by subjects.

TABLE Ia

NUMBER OF ENQUIRIES MADE AT THE PUBLIC ENQUIRY CENTRE,

86, TUNG CHOI STREET, KOWLOON

6TH - 31ST March, 1962

Detailed Enquiries

2,226

Simple Enquiries

1,034

223

Total

3,260

TABLE II

ANALYSIS BY SUBJECTS OF THE DETAILED ENQUIRIES

MADE AT THE PUBLIC ENQUIRY CENTRE,

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OFFICES, WEST WING

3RD JULY, 1961 - 31st March, 1962

Subject

Total

Percentage

Public Finances:

Property Tax

Personal Assessment

Rates...

3,698

663

...

***

...

412

***

Salaries Tax

Estate Duty

Stamp Duty

Others

Immigration:

Entry Permit

181

...

162

H

A

A

132

279

5,527

21.22

...

1,619

Certificate of Identity, Visa, Re-entry Permit

1,293

British Passport

Naturalization

Others

506

179

...

...

...

...

104

3,701

14.22

Housing:

Tenancy Problems

Resettlement

Housing Schemes Others

***

Registration of Persons:

Identity cards

...

...

Companies, Businesses & Societies :

Business Registration

Trade Marks...

Registration of Society

Others

Miscellaneous Licences & Permits:

Hawker Licence

Licence for Food Premises

Dog Licence...

Others

...

::

...

2,356

435

...

229

**

...

A

157

3,177

12.21

...

2,141

2,141

8.24

913

...

149

::

102

157

1,321

5.08

258

158

95

...

653

1,164

4.47

24

Subject

TABLE II-Contd.

Births & Deaths:

Birth Entry

...

Birth Certificate

Post-Registration of Birth

...

1,014

Total

Percentage

Others

34

...

***

...

1,048

4.03

Employment:

Government Post

...

...

...

966

Others

18

984

3.78

Land, Leases & Buildings:

Crown Land/Lease

Land Office Procedure

Buildings

Private Land

...

***

304

192

...

...

156

***

...

130

Others

40

***

822

3.16

Complaints:

Miscellaneous

Education:

Study Abroad

Schools & Scholarships

Higher Studies

Teaching

696

696

2.67

...

254

220

...

...

Others

:::

...

...

134

63

***

8

***

...

679

2.61

Medical:

Cholera Inoculation...

Others

Legal:

Statutory Declaration

Recovery of Debt

...

466

197

663

2.54

179

***

...

131

...

Wills..

Summonses

Others

...

106

...

55

92

...

563

2.16

Factories & Industrial Undertakings:

Establishment/Registration of Factory

Employment Dispute

Workmen's Compensation

197

...

...

134

10.

85

Industrial Relations

Others

444

...

76

...

***

..

45

537

2.06

25

Subject

TABLE II-Contd.

Marriage, Family Disputes & Divorce:

Marriage Procedure...

Family Dispute

Separation/Divorce

Others

Social Welfare:

Adoption

Relief & Assistance

Others

...

+

Total

Percentage

188

...

138

...

...

...

134

40

500

1.92

...

*

Commerce & Industry :

Trade Enquiries

Certificates of Origin

Dutiable Commodities Licence

Water:

Meter...

Supply

Others

Traffic:

Vehicle/Driving Licence

Others

Publications & Advertisements :

Registration of Books/Newspapers Government Publications

Advertisements

...

Others

173

159

136

...

468

1.80

176

***

133

109

418

1.61

189

...

112

43

344

1.32

J

...

235

---

58

...

293

1.13

72

48

45

+4

គង់

80

245

0.94

Miscellaneous:

Information About Government Departments Communications

Armed Forces & Civil Defence

Others

Total

26

217

146

60

310

**

733

2.83

26,024

100%


本網站純為個人分享網站,不涉商業運作,如有版權持有人認為本站侵害你的知識版權,請來信告知(contact@histsyn.com),我們會盡快移除相關內容。

This website is purely for personal sharing and does not involve commercial operations. If any copyright holder believes that this site infringes on your intellectual property rights, please email us at contact@histsyn.com, and we will remove the relevant content as soon as possible.

文本純以 OCR 產出,僅供快速參考搜尋之用,切勿作正規研究引用。

The text is purely generated by OCR, and is only for quick reference and search purposes. Do not use it for formal research citations.


如未能 buy us a coffee,點擊一下 Google 廣告,也能協助我們長遠維持伺服器運作,甚至升級效能!

If you can't buy us a coffee, click on the Google ad, which can also help us maintain the server operation in the long run, and even upgrade the performance!