{headline} Shake-up in police command {byline} By LUISA TAM {article} A MAJOR review of the police force is underway that could lead to a shake-up of top management, redeployment of officers, and streamlining of the 27,000-strong force in a bid to make it a leaner, fitter organisation. {para} But the review, the first in 15 years, has sparked fears it may be a veiled attempt to cut costs at a time when law and order is a major concern. {para} However, last night, Deputy Secretary for Security Mr Ian Strachan stressed the review was needed to identify police needs into the 1990s, and there was no hidden agenda to cut back the size of the force. {para} ``Any savings identified by the review on individual parts of the force will be given back to the commissioner for redeployment to new areas of growth,'' he said. {para} The review, which is being conducted by a five-member working group, will look at ways to revamp the command structure which consists of about 70 posts from commissioner of police down to chief superintendent. {para} ``We have no hidden agenda, we do not necessarily believe that it will lead to significant savings in the command structure, but we believe some of the senior posts could be redeployed within the overall command structure,'' Mr Strachan said. {para} The review will also look at the structure of the traffic branch, marine region, whether posts can be handed over to civilians, and reducing the number of officers in Kowloon and redeploying them to the burgeoning new towns. {para} ``The declining population in the urban areas and growth of new towns means we need to look at the establishment in Kowloon and probably redeploy to new areas such as Tin Shui Wai, Ma On Shan, and so on,'' Mr Strachan said. {para} The review team is led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Management), Mr Keith Lomas, and members of the Finance, Civil Service and Security branches, plus a representative from the private consultancy, Coopers and Lybrand Management Consultants Ltd. {para} It is the first review conducted by government that involves both the force and policy branches with the police force setting up its own internal working group. {para} Of concern to staff is the Government's decision to hire Coopers and Lybrand to examine the management structure and ways to streamline the force. {para} Staff fear the review is being used as an excuse to find ``room for financial streamlining'' to keep in line with the Government's zero growth policy. {para} One police officer said: ``They [Coopers and Lybrand] are well-known for their accountancy expertise . . . if they are hired for what they are best at, we could be seeing a lot of money-saving plans in this round of review.'' {para} Staff are worried the management consultants may have been asked to review the force management side while the study team looks at the operational side. {para} However, Mr Strachan stressed the police were exempt from the Government's policy of zero growth and any trimming in staff would result in resources being redeployed elsewhere. {para} Eighteen months ago the force looked at its own structure and its findings were presented to the secretariat. The present review follows on from that exercise. {para} The last comprehensive police force review was conducted in 1977 by Chief Superintendent Ken Sackett, which resulted in the redeployment of staff. As a result of that, only chief police superintendents were put in charge of district police stations. {para} It is also not clear whether this review will include any cost reduction, but one senior officer has described the exercise as being similar to ``an internal audit''. {para} ``Sometimes when you are in a job for too long, your vision would get a bit narrow, so that's why there is a need for someone from the outside to look at the overall situation and make adjustments,'' the officer said. ``The team's general focus will be along the line that public money will be spent properly.'' {para} The force received a 6.4 per cent increase in expenditure for this financial year to $6.6 billion. The common concern is that further, unnecessary, belt-tightening from the already meagre increase may affect the quality of the force. {para} Although it is not clear whether the role of women in the force will be examined, there are strong hopes this area will not be overlooked. {para} An earlier study on the role of women urged the boosting of their numbers by one per cent to 12 per cent of the 27,000-strong force. {para} Sources say the team will be interviewing ``just about everybody''. It will visit most branches and wings to collect information so it can draw up a wide range of proposals. {para} The group will then study the suggestions before these are passed on to the Secretary for Security Mr Alistair Asprey and his steering group for final approval. {para} Throughout the study, the team will prepare interim reports on its progress but these will only be available for internal circulation. {/article}

{headline} Delay for property row ruling {byline} By KAREN CHENG {article} THE Shenzhen Intermediate Court has failed to resolve the dispute between Hongkong property buyers and mainland developers over the Jiang Hua Plaza during a three-day arbitration hearing that ended yesterday. {para} The court decided instead to give each side three more days to submit further proposals. {para} This departed from normal practice, where if a case cannot be resolved during an arbitration hearing the court dictates terms, without allowing for further negotiation. {para} Some buyers said the judge was avoiding the need to make any judgement, which would become a precedent for similar disputes in the future and could have wide-ranging effects on foreign investment in China. {para} The 21 Hongkong buyers attributed the failure to reach agreement to the ambiguous attitude of the Jiang Hua Plaza developers. {para} They said the developers had changed their proposals every time the buyers were about to accept. {para} Mrs Wong Fok Kwai-ying said the buyers would stand firm on their demand for $175,000 for every buyer, who would then pay a land premium of $1,546 per square metre. {para} The buyers pledged to take the case to Guangzhou if the judgement was unfavourable to them. {para} The Shenzhen court earlier ruled that the initial transaction document they signed with the developers was invalid. {/article}

{headline} Patten draws fire from civil servants {byline} By NAOMI LEE {article} CIVIL servants last night accused the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, of being inconsiderate towards their claims for a pay increase, and agreed to call for a committee of inquiry to arbitrate their dispute with the Government. {para} The three main civil servant unions arrived at the same view last night after Mr Patten rejected a petition from one of the unions. {para} The 80,000-strong Chinese Civil Servants Association (CCSA) had angered the other two unions - the Senior Non-Expatriate Officers' Association and the Association of Expatriate Civil Servants - by not joining them to press for the ad hoc committee last month. It wanted to wait until it had received a reply from Mr Patten. {para} However, last night the CCSA's president, Mr Wong Hyo, accused the Governor of ignoring the concerns of civil servants and being ``inconsiderate''. {para} ``He repeated all the cliches, such as the subject of inflation and `things were being looked into'. {para} ``There isn't a word of encouragement to boost our morale and to ease our anxiety,'' said Mr Wong. {para} ``We shared the burden of a worse economy but we can't share its success. We feel very sorry about the Governor's reply.'' {para} The salary adjustments of the civil servants in the past two years have been lower than that in the private sector. {para} Civil servants have asked for a special pay rise this year to compensate them for what they say were discrepancies in previous years because of government moves to cut spending. {para} According to the agreement made between the Governor and the Senior Civil Service Council in 1968, which consists of the unions on its staff side, requests for a committee of inquiry can only be made when the unions share the same view. {para} Mr Wong warned that low morale in the civil service would be detrimental to Hongkong. {para} ``It would adversely affect the effectiveness in the government administration and the stability and prosperity of society,'' he said. {para} The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Barrie Wiggham, said last night he was expecting the unions to come to him with the request, which would not necessarily be accepted by the Governor despite the agreement. {para} He said he would discuss with the unions how to handle the case. {/article}

{headline} Call for terminal rethink {byline} By ESTHER WONG {article} UNITED Democrat legislators are outraged at the Government's handling of the Container Terminal Nine (CT9) project and have asked the Town Planning Board to reconsider its decision to locate the project on Tsing Yi. {para} The Town Planning Board decided at an internal meeting that Tsing Yi be the site, casting aside objections from the liberal legislators. {para} ``I hope members of the Town Planning Board will delay their decision and gather further information before they make any final go-ahead is given,'' Mr Lee Wing-tat, of the liberal flagship, said. {para} The legislators also asked that the Town Planning Board call off the construction of the terminal if the strategy and the site chosen were found to be inappropriate. {para} Mr Lee said a report from the Government-commissioned consultancy indicated that, at worst, transport facilities might not cope with demand when the terminal started operations. {para} But a spokesman for the board issued a statement last night saying members were of the view that Tsing Yi was the only suitable location. {para} ``The traffic impact assessment undertaken in relation to the development of the terminal indicates that the existing and planned road network will be adequate for the traffic generated by the proposed development,'' the spokesman said. {para} He pointed out that according to the latest programme, two lanes of the four-lane southern Tsing Yi Bridge would be completed and open to traffic in June 1995 to tie in with the commissioning of the first berth of Terminal 9. {para} Mr Lee disagreed. {para} ``It is very possible that all the four berths can be completed in the early part of 1996, and at that time the urban area section of Route 3 will not have been completed,'' he said. {para} ``This would lead to a high increase of traffic flow within Kwai Tsing, Tsuen Wan and also in the Kowloon west area.'' {/article}

{headline} System `out of touch' {byline} By BERYL COOK {article} HONGKONG'S school system and curriculum have been criticised for being out of touch with realities such as triad activities in schools and for failing to give students life skills. {para} The dean of the faculty of education at Hongkong University, Dr Cheng Kai-ming, said the local education system did not respond to individual needs and abilities. {para} But the Department of Education, which is expected to announce curriculum changes on Friday, says the system gives schools and teachers room to respond to change, and the curriculum is ``organic'' enough to cope with it. {para} ``The system here is compulsory and the philosophy is one of conforming, so the curriculum is not diverse. Everyone follows in their age and class, and there is little leeway to move,'' Dr Cheng said. {para} ``It is like forcing students to eat but not preparing the right food.'' {para} The assistant Director of Education, Chief Inspector of Schools, Mr Simon Ho Che-leung, defended the system and curriculum. {para} ``Our system gives autonomy to heads of schools, and teachers who try hard can use extra-curricular activities to instruct on issues such as self-esteem.'' {para} He also said the curriculum was ``an organic thing responding to change within the system''. {para} Mr Ho said social change could be incorporated into the curriculum as cross-cultural issues. These could include sex education, environmental issues, political changes in view of 1997 worked into social studies, and ethical studies subjects. {para} Dr Cheng said the curriculum seemed to be out of touch with Hongkong's changing society. {para} Both Dr Cheng and the vice-president of the Hongkong Professional Teachers Union, Mr Au Pak-kuen, said this was evident in the Sha Tin and Tuen Mun area where student discipline was a problem. {para} ``Sha Tin is a new area - prosperous so the children are exposed to new kinds of social activities not necessarily meant for them, activities such as visiting billiard rooms and walking in malls,'' Dr Cheng said. {para} Apart from triad activity students formed ``pseudo-triad gangs to form a sphere of influence and force their students to pay them'', he said. {para} An education officer from the Sha Tin region, said many of the problems came from students from urban areas, particularly Kowloon, who moved to the area. {para} They tended to have low school results so they missed out on places in more prestigious schools of their choice in Kowloon or on Hongkong Island, then moved to the New Territories to take up their second-preference places. {para} Mr Au said students in the modern New Territories had difficulty relating their everyday life to the school curriculum. {para} At least one subject such as life studies or sex education, which would help students cope with experiences such as adolescent romance, should be made part of the curriculum. {/article}

{headline} Show-off sniffer dogs steal Governor's limelight {byline} By PAUL TYRRELL {article} BARNEY and Rick, two sniffer dogs with the Customs and Excise Department, had a nose for the limelight yesterday when they met the Governor, Mr Chris Patten. {para} The specially trained animals were the stars of Mr Patten's trip to the Man Kam To border checkpoint - one of five government organisations he visited during his ``disciplined services day''. {para} Mr Patten watched as the narcotics detection dogs found bags of heroin that had been planted by the authorities in boxes of teddy bears and jumpers. {para} Both dogs passed their detection tests and sniffed out the $70,000 worth of planted drugs within minutes. {para} But they showed an appetite for work beyond the call of duty and caused problems for their handlers, Yam Sai- Keun and Kwok Wing-on. Barney, a six year-old springer spaniel, and Rick, an eight-year-old black labrador, both refused to let the heroin out of their grasp, much to the amusement of the Governor. {para} Barney and Rick were so determined to hang on to their finds that they were lifted off the floor by the officers as they tried to prise the dogs away from the drugs. {para} The animals have been working for the Customs and Excise Department for five years and were trained at the Royal Air Force's Police Dog School in Newton, Cambridgeshire, England. {para} The teddy bears and jumpers had entered the territory in lorries yesterday and customs officers ran a spot check on the cargo, showing the Governor how they carry out a search in the import cargo examination building. {para} Some of the 600 boxes containing more than 4,500 teddy bears were opened and officers checked the bears by hand. Other boxes were put through X-ray machines to check for drugs. {para} Man Kam To control point is the busiest of the three border control points, with an average of 9,000 vehicles crossing between Hongkong and China each day. {para} Mr Patten was greeted by Customs and Excise Commissioner Mr Clive Oxley, who explained that the control point played a key role in the shipment and quota frauds involving textile goods. He also saw how customs officers processed incoming vehicles into Hongkong. {para} He began the day at Stanley Prison, where he toured the shoe-making and silk-screening workshops. The workshops are two of nine at the prison which help to account for more than one quarter of the $290 million commercial value of the Correctional Services Department industries last year. {para} Accompanying the Governor were acting Secretary for Security, Mr Ian Strachan and Commissioner of Correctional Services, Mr Eric McCosh. {para} In the afternoon, Mr Patten took a trip to the Royal Hongkong Auxiliary Air Force headquarters in Kowloon Bay, where he was shown the Communications Centre and aircraft maintenance facilities. {para} He then travelled to Wan Chai and met the Director of Immigration, Mr Laurence Leung Ming-Yin, who took him on a tour of the department's British Nationality Division. {para} At the Operational Research Station, he was briefed on the problems of illegal immigration and the use of forged travel documents. In the Forgery Display Room, he saw more than 5,000 examples of fake passes, permits and ID cards. {para} The Governor's last official appointment was at the Tsim Tung Fire Station in Tsim Sha Tsui, where he appeared tempted to climb up a 50-metre ladder in the drill yard. {para} More than 20 firemen gave Mr Patten a display of their fire-fighting and rescue skills and the Governor took special interest in the giant automatic ladder. {para} ``We asked Mr Patten if he would like to try the ladder,'' explained South Kowloon Divisional Commander Mr K. T. Choi. ``He seemed to want to go up, but then said he didn't have enough time.'' {/article}

{headline} Mystery over cyanide source {article} A GOVERNMENT official responsible for the control of cyanide was yesterday unable to tell an inquest how a girl might have obtained the cyanide with which she killed herself. {para} Mystery surrounds the death of 15-year-old Yu Po- shan, a student at Heep Woh College, Diamond Hill, who committed suicide on March 16 after being accused of stealing a schoolmate's bag. {para} Her parents and friends have been unable to determine how she obtained the poisonous chemical. {para} Mr Wong Ching-kwok, divisional factory inspector at the Labour Department, said he could not pinpoint any one possible source as it was easy to buy cyanide from chemical suppliers. {para} But coroner Mr Li Zong- er, who had earlier complained that the Labour Department seemed unwilling to answer his concerns about control of the poison, questioned Mr Wong's evidence, saying it would later be contradicted by ``strong police evidence''. {para} Mr Wong's evidence was also contradicted by Dr Anthony Chan, a senior pharmacist at the Department of Health, who gave evidence on Monday. {para} Dr Chan told the court that sales of cyanide were strictly monitored and the poison could only be sold to industrialists. {para} Mr Wong told Mr Li that industrial use was monitored by the Labour Department and governed by the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Dangerous Substances) Regulations. {para} The regulations stipulated that cyanide be kept under lock and key and marked with a warning label, naming the chemical and explaining its dangers. {para} Both experts agreed there were no regulations governing the use of the chemical within the workplace. Its safe storage and use was the responsibility of the employer and employees, Mr Wong said. {para} ``We have reason to suspect the deceased may have got the cyanide from an industrial source,'' the coroner said. ``I should have thought there would be some regulations to govern the issue of cyanide within factories.'' {para} Mr Wong said he was unable to comment about whether such regulations were practicable or had been considered by his department. {para} Earlier, Po-shan's form teacher, Ms Chen Wai-fong, was asked why she had not interviewed the girl privately after the school started investigating the charge of theft on March 11. {para} ``You were her class mistress,'' Mr Li said. ``Why didn't you talk to her? At least let her tell you her version of the story and show your concern.'' {para} ``Because I didn't have any time at all,'' Ms Chen said. {para} She said that on March 11 and 12, her time had been taken up with accompanying Po-shan to the women's market in Mongkok to look for another bag which would back up Po-shan's claim that she bought the bag there. {para} On March 13, she had been busy tutoring students and preparing for examinations which started on March 16 - the day Po-shan killed herself. {para} Coroner's officer, Mr Philip Cantrill asked whether the school had arranged for the school social worker to counsel Po-shan. {para} Ms Chen said the social worker had not yet been assigned to her, although Po- shan would have been free to approach the social worker herself. {para} She said that on the day Po-shan committed suicide, the social worker was not at the school because she had to divide her time between several schools and was only at Heep Woh College on Tuesdays and alternate Thursdays. {para} The hearing continues. {/article}

{headline} Patten, Zhou to exchange views {byline} By GARETH HEWETT, LANA WONG and ESTHER WONG {article} THE Governor, Mr Chris Patten, said yesterday his meeting today with the Director of the local branch of the New China News Agency, Mr Zhou Nan, would not be a negotiating session. {para} Speaking after a tour of the territory's major financial institutions yesterday, Mr Patten said this would be a chance for both parties to get to know each other. {para} Mr Patten's meeting with China's top man in the territory will be his first, as Mr Zhou has been in Beijing for a prostate gland operation since June. {para} ``I am looking forward to getting to know him and exchange views with him on general issues,'' the Governor said. {para} ``It should not be regarded by anybody as a negotiating session. The right place for these negotiations is, of course, the Airport Committee.'' {para} Mr Patten and Mr Zhou are also expected to have a general discussion about the 1995 Legislative Council elections. {para} However, the Governor is not expected to consult Mr Zhou on the Executive Council composition as it is considered his prerogative. {para} Mr Patten yesterday refused to comment on the composition of the new Executive Council or his views on the role of the Legislative Council. ``You will have to wait until I make my speech in October,'' he said. {para} Legislative Councillors yesterday said they hoped the first meeting between Mr Patten and Mr Zhou could pave the way for solving the airport deadlock. {para} Although the legislators did not expect the meeting to produce fruitful results, they hoped it could at least strengthen the rapport between Hongkong and China. They also expected political development to be high on the agenda. {para} Independent legislator Mr Vincent Cheng Hoi-chuen hoped the impasse over the airport financing plan could be resolved as soon as possible. {para} He said both governments should stand by their commitments to have the airport completed by 1997 as the airport issue, apart from its economic value, had become the symbol of whether Hongkong could have a smooth transition and whether the ``one country, two systems'' formula could work. {para} Another independent legislator, Professor Chen Kwan-yiu, believed the airport issue and the constitutional review would be two issues to be discussed. {para} But of more importance was to sort out the differences in future, Professor Chen said, adding the Governor should seek understanding with the Chinese side over which matters or projects Hongkong should consult China. {para} Of the review of the Executive and Legislative councils relationship, Professor Chen said there was a need to consult China as any changes might involve convergence in 1997. {para} Legislator Mr Frederick Fung Kin-kee of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood did not have high hopes of the meeting, saying he could not see any prospect of having the Sino-Hongkong problems solved at this level of talks. {para} Meeting Point legislator Mr Zachary Wong Wai-yin hoped the two leaders would discuss the law and order problem, especially the smuggling of goods and weapons. {para} Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hongkong (DAB) yesterday urged the Government to set a ceiling on the cost of the Chek Lap Kok airport and related projects to ensure the plan would not exceed the budget. {para} In its statement, the alliance urged the British and Chinese governments to reach an agreement on the financial arrangements of the airport projects as soon as possible. {/article}

{headline} Co-tenant held over burn death {article} KOWLOON detectives last night arrested a 42-year-old man in connection with Thursday's gruesome murder of a woman in Tai Kok Tsui. {para} The suspect, an odd job worker, was arrested in the deceased's flat on the sixth floor of Hing Wong Building in Lei Tak Street, where he is a co-tenant, police said. {para} Detective Chief Inspector Fung Ka-ho, who headed the murder investigation, identified the dead woman as Ms Wong How-ching, a 35-year-old housewife and mother of a 10-year-old son. {para} He said Ms Wong's husband had reported her missing to police in Mongkok on Wednesday. {para} A post-mortem examination yesterday failed to establish the cause of death, apparently because the body had been so badly burned. {para} Inspector Fung said the victim had been murdered about 24 hours before her body - with the hands and feet bound, and the eyes, nose and mouth taped - was found wrapped in a plastic bag and a cotton quilt and stuffed in a large nylon bag. {para} The body was found on the staircase landing between the first and second floors of a Kok Cheung Street building in Tai Kok Tsui after firemen put out a small blaze. The building is within walking distance of Ms Wong flat. {/article}

{headline} Constable in fight for life after crash {byline} By JIMMY LEUNG {article} A POLICE detective constable was in a critical condition last night as a result of injuries received in a car crash early yesterday in which a senior inspector was killed. {para} Mr Lam Cheung-tong, 28, was admitted to Prince of Wales Hospital in satisfactory condition, but his condition later deteriorated. Two other injured policemen were reported to be satisfactory. {para} Meanwhile, former colleagues at New Territories police headquarters said they were shocked and saddened by the death of senior detective inspector Chow Ka-shu, 27, in the accident. {para} ``He was a relatively young officer and had he not died he would have made a good contribution to the force,'' a colleague said. {para} He will be given an official funeral with police honours. {para} The officer and three detective constables, all members of the regional triad intelligence section (RTIS), were returning to their Tai Po base after taking part in a ``Levington'' anti-crime operation at Ma On Shan. {para} Mr Chow was driving the car along Ma On Shan Road, when it crashed into a lamp post near Tai Shui Hang shortly before 1 am. {para} Firemen took about 20 minutes to free him from the wreckage. {para} All four men were taken to Prince of Wales Hospital, where Mr Chow was certified dead on arrival. {para} Mr Lam, Mr Lee Chi-wing, 34, and Mr Lau Chi- leung, 29, were admitted in satisfactory condition. {para} A police accident investigator said they were waiting for reports from the Government Chemist and the vehicle examiner before establishing the cause of the crash. {para} Mr Chow joined the police force as an inspector in November 1987 after graduating from the University of Newcastle in England, and was first posted to Sha Tin. He was promoted to senior inspector in November 1990. {para} He had worked mostly in the New Territories, which included the RTIS, under the New Territories crime headquarters. {para} He is survived by his taxi driver father, his mother, who works as a barracks cleaner and a married sister. {para} Mr Chow's family will receive $36,800 from the Government and the force as immediate relief and for funeral expenses. {para} The family is also eligible to claim up to $542,000 under the Employee Compensation Ordinance and $379,000 from death gratuity. {para} Because he was unmarried, his parents are also entitled to $36,000 from the contributory Widows and Children's Pension Scheme for male civil servants and a payout from the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance fund. {/article}

{headline} Legco debate announced on death penalty {article} DRAFT legislation for the abolition of the death penalty will be debated in Legco in October, according to the Security Branch. {para} A spokesman added that the Government believed that life imprisonment was a powerful deterrent to serious crime. {para} Last year, the Legislative Council voted in favour of a motion urging the abolition of capital punishment. The Government then drafted the necessary legislation. {para} Amnesty International said that Hongkong people would feel more secure with the advent of 1997 if the death penalty was abolished. {para} ``Our feeling is that China uses the death penalty widely, and people will feel more secure if a legal framework is put in place,'' said Ms Liz Aram spokeswoman for Amnesty's campaign for the abolition of the death penalty. {para} Ms Aram said the 1 1/2-month campaign would lobby for the draft legislation to be forwarded to Legco to be passed as law. {para} She pointed out that the Bill of Rights had a right to life provision, but there was no provision for the abolition of the death penalty. {para} Human rights organisations and Christian groups will be asked to write letters to Legco members and key people in Hongkong pressing for abolition. {para} Ms Aram said one of the people targeted would be the Governor, Mr Chris Patten. Mr Patten was known to be in favour of abolition and campaigners would like his help in pursuing the cause, she said. {para} Ms Aram welcomed the possible debate as good news, but so far she had heard of no official commitment from the Government. {para} She said Amnesty International would rally support through a petition to be presented to Legco in October, and there will be an exhibition this weekend at the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry terminal. {/article}

{headline} Liberals at odds after poll defeat {byline} By LANA WONG {article} THE United Democrats of Hongkong (UDHK) yesterday dismissed claims that party disunity contributed to its defeat in the Legislative Council by-election in New Territories West. {para} The denial followed criticism by legislator and chairman of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, Mr Frederick Fung Kin-kee, who said the UDHK had been nonchalant about the help offered by his group. {para} ``We are very disappointed by the defeat [of Mr Albert Ho Chun-yan], whom the ADPL fully supported,'' Mr Fung said. ``But we are more disappointed that the election reflected that the liberal camp could not really co-operate.'' {para} In late July, the ADPL decided not to field its member, Mr Yim Tin-sang, in the by-election in the hope of unifying the territory's liberal factions for what they saw as a fierce battle against the rural conservative camp. {para} Mr Fung said the ADPL had contacted the UDHK at least six times offering to help Mr Ho's election campaign. {para} No reply was given to the ADPL until last Friday, when the group was notified that only Mr Fung was needed on polling day. {para} Mr Fung said some ADPL members were frustrated not only because of this but also the UDHK only asked for the help from their political star and not other less known ADPL members. {para} But on the eve of the poll, the UDHK asked the ADPL for more volunteers and on Sunday sent Mr Yim to a district that was not his stronghold, Mr Fung said. {para} A few ADPL members are now seeking a meeting with UDHK chairman Mr Martin Lee Chu-ming to clarify his party's position. {para} UDHK legislator Mr Lee Wing-tat yesterday denied there was any problem in co- operation among the liberal groups. {para} ``We had made every possible effort to mobilise the resources available,'' said Mr Lee, adding that there was no single reason for the failure in the election. {para} The major reasons for the defeat were Mr Ho's lack of services and popularity in the district and the united support from rural and left- wing organisations for the victor Dr Tang Siu-tong, he said. {para} Mr Yim has already signed up for the Regional Council by-election which opened for nomination yesterday. {para} The nomination period ends on September 15. {para} Meanwhile, the Hongkong Democratic Foundation claimed new figures suggested the voter turnout in the 1991 Legco elections had been a great success. {para} The real turnout rate for the September polls should have been 51.8 per cent instead of 39.2 per cent as shown by government figures, according to a survey of 3,170 registered voters by researchers at the Hongkong Polytechnic and the Chinese University of Hongkong. {para} The difference was due to the emigration or death of some registered voters, it said. {/article}

{headline} Deportation splits couple {byline} By KATHY GRIFFIN {article} A PREGNANT Vietnamese woman was deported to China yesterday, despite warnings that it probably meant separating her forever from her husband, who is in Whitehead detention centre. {para} Ms Cheu Nguyet Anh, who is five months pregnant, and 14 other Vietnamese nationals were handed over without incident to the Chinese authorities at the border yesterday morning. {para} They had settled for some time in China before coming to Hongkong and therefore were not deemed asylum-seekers by the Hongkong Government. {para} Ms Cheu's husband, Mr Tran Kim Long, was treated as an asylum-seeker because he came to ther territory directly from Vietnam. {para} Three other couples are in a similar position. {para} Yesterday the Hongkong Democratic Foundation's chairman, Mr Patrick Shiu Kin-ying, condemned the deportations as inhumane, particularly in view of the right to marry and have children. {para} ``It's absolutely shocking,'' he said. {para} ``Initially, I thought we were talking about hundreds of families, but it's only a few people. {para} ``I think the Hongkong Government has a responsibility to look into this so they can at least be repatriated as a family,'' he said. {para} A total of 75 Vietnamese from China are in Whitehead detention centre pending verification of their status from the mainland so they can be deported. {para} Relations are frosty between China and Vietnam, and there is no known case where a Vietnamese in China has successfully applied to return to Vietnam, or vice versa. {para} Lawyer Mr Michael Darwyne said it was likely Ms Cheu and Mr Tran, who met in a detention centre and married in April, would never be re-united and Mr Tran would never see his child. {para} Mr Darwyne sent a letter to the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, on Thursday urging him to allow the couple to remain together and, if necessary, settle in Hongkong. {para} ``I am very sad. They had the opportunity and the Government had the power [to stop the deportation],'' he said. {para} ``They chose not to exercise it and they will bear the consequences,'' he said. {para} He also said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) bore some responsibility because it could have lobbied harder for the couple's case, particularly on humanitarian grounds. {para} Meanwhile, three Vietnamese men escaped yesterday as they were being transported to Kai Tak airport for a voluntary repatriation flight. {para} The men, one aged 24 and the other two both aged 28, who were being moved by coach from Lowu camp, jumped out as the vehicle approached Tate's Cairn tunnel. {para} Police last night said they were still at large. {para} Yesterday's escapes were at least the second during a voluntary repatriation. {para} In July a man jumped from a coach in full view of police. {para} A Security Branch spokesman said voluntary repatriation flights were not given high security but refused to release details for ``operational reasons''. {para} ``Escapes happen from time to time. Even prisons are not 100 per cent escape- proof,'' he said, adding procedures would be reviewed to see if improvements could be made. {para} Despite the escapes, 242 Vietnamese boat people were repatriated, representing the 120th group to return under the UNHCR- sponsored programme. {para} The 101 men, 57 women and 84 children bring to 7,563 the total number to return voluntarily this year, and to 21,442 the number returned since the programme started in March 1989. {/article}

{article} A 15-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl, who is believed to have taken an overdose of some unknown tablets, died in Princess Margaret Hospital at 10 pm yesterday, four hours after she was admitted. Police have classified the case as suicide. {para} Police were told that the Form 3 student had earlier had an argument with her aunt, with whom she lived, over fees for school textbooks for next month's new term. {/article}

{headline} Driver found in locked taxi dies {article} FIREMEN had to break into a locked taxi in Tuen Mun to reach the unconscious driver yesterday morning. {para} The 49-year-old driver, surnamed Wong, was rushed to hospital but was certified dead on arrival. Police investigations indicated no foul play. {para} The man's 41-year-old wife told detectives her husband had been suffering from heart problems for several years and had rented the taxi to obtain extra income. {para} Police and firemen went to Tuen Shing Street at 9.20 am after receiving a report that a taxi driver had collapsed inside his vehicle with the engine running. {/article}

{headline} Sentence over cards upheld {article} A MAN who bought duty free goods worth more than $20,000 with stolen and lost credit cards failed to get a cut in his jail term in the Court of Appeal yesterday. {para} Upholding the 21-month sentence, the court said there was nothing wrong with the term imposed by a District Court judge, who noted that Ishola Ade Nurudeen was caught red-handed and that this type of offence was too prevalent. {para} Nurudeen, 35, an engineer, had pleaded guilty in the District Court to obtaining property by deception and obtaining money by deception. {para} The court heard that while on two flights between Singapore and Hongkong on October 9 and 10 last year, Nurudeen bought $21,250 worth of duty free goods with several credit cards in the name of I. Walker. {para} The cards were later found to be either lost or stolen in various places including England, Nigeria and Monrovia. {para} Nurudeen claimed a man named Mr Tony had asked him to buy duty free goods for him with the cards and he had no knowledge they were lost or stolen. {para} The Appeal Court comprised Chief Justice Sir Ti Liang Yang and Vice-President Sir Derek Cons. {/article}

{headline} Girl denies ordering beating of two friends {article} A 17-YEAR-OLD girl denied in the High Court that she instructed a group of schoolboys to beat up two of their friends, one of whom died from the injuries. {para} When pressed by Mr Finny Chan, who is appearing for two of the defendants, Law Mei-yi then said she could not remember if she had instructed the boys to hit the two victims. {para} She was giving evidence for a second day against eight schoolboys aged between 12 and 16 who are charged with the murder of 14-year-old Ip Kin-kei. Six of the defendants also face a second charge of causing grievous bodily harm to another 14-year-old boy, Chan Siu-hung, for teasing a girl. {para} An hour into her evidence yesterday, Mei-yi complained of feeling dizzy and Mr Justice Leong adjourned the case until Tuesday for further cross-examination. {para} Earlier, she asked to correct a statement made previously that she and the boys went shopping after abandoning the body of Kin-kei on a staircase. {para} She recalled yesterday that in fact they went to a park in Kowloon and sat there not knowing what to do. {para} She agreed with Mr Chan that the boys were troubled and unhappy. But she could not remember some of them saying they did not know they had hit Kin-kei so hard. {para} She denied associating with younger boys because it was easier to influence them and get their attention. {para} Asked if the alleged ringleader, Lai Chi-ho, 14, was still her boyfriend, she shook her head. She said she saw him strike Kin-kei but when pressed said she could not remember which assault he participated in. {para} Earlier, Mei-yi agreed that it was due to the stubbornness of Kin-kei that he was beaten up for not admitting he had told others of an earlier assault. {para} She agreed that the intention was to teach Kin-kei a lesson and not to harm him. She also agreed that she and the boys were at an age where they wanted to have fun and be happy. {para} She accepted that on the day of the killing she instructed two of the defendants to bring Kin-kei to the flat of her boyfriend, Chi-ho, where she had spent the night. {para} Asked if she had heard anyone instruct that Kin-kei be hit, she said she heard Chi-ho give such instructions but denied that she also gave instructions. {para} The assaults took place at Chi-ho's flat in Oi Chi House, Yau Oi Estate, Tuen Mun, on November 8 and 10 last year. {/article}

{headline} Police move on international passport racket {byline} By LUISA TAM and DAVID WALLEN in London {article} POLICE fear several immigration consultancies may have obtained genuine British passports through forged applications and supporting documents for clients who pay fees up to $500,000. {para} The warning came yesterday, one day after simultaneous operations launched by Hongkong and London Metropolitan police to smash an international passports- for-sale syndicate. {para} A large number of fake application documents were seized. But no one was arrested in either exercise. {para} A source close to the Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB), which mounted Wednesday's raids with officers from the Immigration Department, said the Hongkong operation would continue. {para} In Wednesday's operation, police confiscated eight cabinets of documents from six addresses, including a solicitor's firm in Central. {para} Scotland Yard yesterday admitted that metropolitan police officers from its International and Organised Crime branch had raided the offices of Brain and Brain Solicitors of Tower House in Southampton Street in central London, and Warwick Dorney, based in Kilburn. {para} Scotland Yard would only say the raids were in connection with an immigration inquiry and carried out in conjunction with the action by police and immigration officers in Hongkong. {para} ``The syndicate had exploited a United Kingdom immigration rule in order to do business. There is a clause which states that anyone who has settled in the UK for five years before 1983 will be eligible for a British passport,'' the source close to the CCB said. {para} ``So they faked applications and documents to show the applicants had resided in the UK for that length of time and then cheated the Immigration into issuing the passports . . . they charged between $200,000 and $500,000 per passport. {para} ``A lot of these immigration companies are flying close to the wind. Their clients may or may not know about their methods,'' the source warned. {para} However, it was not clear how long this passports-for-sale syndicate had operated in the territory or whether any British Immigration officers were involved. {para} The source said many Hongkong people believed a UK passport would grant them residency rights in other countries, such as Australia. {/article}

{headline} 11-year term for heroin count man {article} A DECORATION worker was yesterday sentenced to 11 years' jail for possessing 289 grams of No 4 heroin. {para} Mr Justice Leonard imposed the penalty on Chong Ki-wan, 37, after the jury found him guilty of the charge. {para} The court heard evidence by senior Crown counsel Mr Alain Sham how police found the drugs in a rice bucket after a raid on a Ngau Tau Kok flat on October 28 last year. {para} Chong, represented by Mr Warwick Haldane, denied any knowledge of the drugs. He claimed someone left a packet at his home three days prior to his arrest and he had no idea of its contents. {para} In mitigation, Mr Haldane said there was no evidence Chong was selling heroin. {/article}

{headline} Error over suspected heroin mix {article} AN error made by government chemists led to a man being accused of possessing 25 per cent more dangerous drugs than the amount he is now alleged to have had, the High Court heard yesterday. {para} Chong Ki-wan, 37, was originally charged with possessing 403 grams of heroin mixture for trafficking. After the mistake was discovered, the quantity was amended to 289 grams. {para} He denied the offence and is being tried by a jury before Mr Justice Leonard. {para} In his opening address, Senior Crown Counsel Mr Alain Sham said police raided a Ngau Tau Kok flat at about 2.15 am on October 28. A plastic bag containing suspected dangerous drugs was found inside a rice bucket. {para} Mr Sham said the suspected drugs were sent to a government laboratory for analysis on the same day and the material was re-examined on July 31 this year. {para} A government chemist would give evidence to explain how the mistake occurred, he said. {para} The hearing continues. {/article}

{headline} Fish return to sewage-free bay {byline} By BONNY TAM {article} FISH have returned to the bay between Stonecutters Island and Kowloon after a sewerage system was opened and strong tides resumed last week, the Environmental Protection Department said yesterday. {para} But acting principal environmental protection officer, Mr David Hall, said the department was still waiting for results of water sample analysis to confirm the apparent quality improvement. {para} He said the department had finished a report into the death of thousands of fish that were washed ashore two weeks ago when Stonecutters Island was linked to Kowloon by reclamation work for Container Terminal No 8. {para} The report confirmed that untreated sewage dumped in the bay had deprived the water of oxygen and affected marine life, he said. {para} The EPD had advised against linking up the island before the sewerage treatment plant could start operation on August 25 but was apparently ignored. {para} The Territory Development Department, which oversees the reclamation, is conducting its report into the cause of the incident but acting project manager Mr Anthony Fung Kat-lee was not available for comment yesterday. {para} Mr Hall said a slack tide occurred on August 20 and 21, when maximum low tide equalled minimum high tide under the effect of a new moon, removed the flushing effect in the bay and worsened the pollution. {para} But neap tide was prevailing this month, when tidal fluctuation would reach two metres, and strong currents would help dilute the sewage concentration, he said. {para} He said the Drainage Services Department has already commissioned the sewerage system ahead of schedule to the benefit of environment. {para} The Assistant Director of Drainage Services, Mr Chung Kwok-leung, said yesterday that he did not know who had decided and why Stonecutters was linked up before the sewerage system could start. {para} Mr Chung was speaking after signing a $17.9 million contract with a private company for constructing the final part of the Aberdeen sewerage system to improve water quality at the nearby typhoon shelter. {para} A new pumping station, intercepting sewer and associated ancillary works will be built to replace temporary facilities collecting sewage discharged from the newly-reclaimed area at northeast Ap Lei Chau. {para} The new facilities will remove sewage discharge into the Aberdeen typhoon shelter into an existing sewerage system serving more than 31,000 residents in the two public housing estates on the island. {para} Mr Hall said floating seafood restaurants were contributing to the significant faecal pollution in the Aberdeen typhoon shelter. {para} But the water quality would largely improve after the shelter was declared part of a water control zone by the middle of next year and further enhanced when the sewerage system was completed by April 1994, he said. {para} And the restaurants would be allowed to stay if they could treat sewage properly and dispose of it in the right place. {para} The Aberdeen sewerage system will eventually be incorporated into the $18 billion territory-wide sewage disposal network to be completed after 1997 to remove sewage from Victoria Harbour into the South China Sea. {/article}

{headline} Call for CJ withdrawn {article} THE Chief Justice, Sir Ti Liang Yang, was relieved from appearing as a prosecution witness in a traffic case when the defendant reversed his not guilty plea in Western Court yesterday. {para} Sir Ti Liang and his driver, Mr Ho Kam-hung, had been subpoenaed but their presence was not required. {para} Maxicab driver Lau Shiu-ching, 55, was fined $500 after he pleaded guilty to careless driving. His vehicle was involved in a minor accident with Sir Ti Liang's car on Morrison Hill Road on November 18 last year. {para} Lau said after the hearing he changed his plea because he believed his chances of winning were minimal. {para} ``I have to earn my living,'' he said. ``Had it not been the Chief Justice's car, I would surely have maintained my plea and fought for compensation from him.'' {/article}

{headline} Garbled voices on MTR `oudador' {byline} By GREG TORODE {article} THE constant and controversial drone of ``plsminddadors'' on the Mass Transit Railway looks set to die. {para} Other indecipherable favourites such as ``middapatfrmgap'' and ``changsationyaumata'' will also disappear in place of on-train announcements MTR officials hope will be clear, grammatical and just about music to the ears. {para} An MTR official said yesterday a multi-million-dollar contract had recently been signed with Philips Hongkong to provide pre-recorded digital messages on trains starting midway through next year and for completion by September 1994. {para} The contract provides for the messages to be recorded on a coding system similar to compact disc and compact cassette technology to produce studio-quality reproduction. {para} The messages will be similar but will be joined by a series of beeps to warn passengers of slamming doors. {para} Traditionally the announcements have been made by drivers, whose priorities officials admit lie with the safe passage of their vehicles rather than their ability to impersonate Richard Burton. {para} ``That system has served us very well but is now 15 years old and so it's time for change,'' the official said. {para} When the current system started, Hongkong Polytechnic offered to train drivers correct announcement techniques. But the move was rejected by the MTR. {para} However, passenger surveys and trials last year indicated a need for change. {para} Drivers would be free to concentrate on operational duties and would be able to easily control the system. {para} The English messages will be performed by native English-language speakers and vice versa for Cantonese messages. {/article}

{headline} Boy saved from pool dies {byline} By PAUL TYRRELL {article} A YOUNGSTER rescued from the bottom of a Sai Kung swimming pool by a plucky 10-year-old girl lost his fight for life yesterday. {para} Lau Ka-ho, 12, never regained consciousness after being pulled from the water by Australians Hayley Jannesen and her five-year- old brother Brendon. {para} The sister and brother were walking back to their home in Green Park Villas on Thursday afternoon when Ka-ho's eight-year-old sister asked for help and pointed to the bottom of the pool in the housing estate. {para} Hayley dived into the water, brought the boy to the surface and Brendon stood on the steps to help drag him out. {para} Their mother, Mrs Yvonne Jannesen, alerted police and her husband, airline pilot Mr Ross Jannesen, and a nearby building worker tried to resuscitate the boy. {para} Ka-ho was taken to the Mona Fong Clinic then transferred to Prince of Wales Hospital. He was put into the intensive care unit, but died at 2.55 am yesterday. {para} A police spokesman said a post-mortem examination would be carried out in the next few days and the Coroner had been informed. {/article}

{headline} HA moves to improve drug safety {byline} By FIONA CHAN {article} A NEW computer network is to be introduced to provide drug labelling at three hospitals and eight specialist clinics as a safeguard against patients receiving the wrong drugs. {para} It is one of the initiatives to be introduced by the Hospital Authority (HA) by the end of this year to enhance drug safety and protect patients. {para} The HA, which took over the management of 38 public hospitals and a number of related institutions and services last December, has said the new drug safety measures were due to the change of management and not the incident in which two babies were given the wrong drugs. {para} A baby girl under one year old was given the wrong injection at Prince of Wales Hospital last October and apparently suffered brain damage. She is still being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit. A boy of the same age who suffered a similar mix-up has been discharged. {para} A Hospital Services Department has been investigating the incidents but a report has yet to be released. {para} Executive manager (Professional Services) of the HA, Dr Ko Wing-man, yesterday said the investment was to further expand a ``hospital pharmaceutical supply system'' currently employed by five major ex- Government hospitals. {para} The first three former subvented hospitals to benefit from the scheme will be United Christian Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre and Kwong Wah Hospital. {para} According to Dr Ko, all hospitals are expected to set up the services. {para} With the new system, all drugs provided for in-patients will be labelled in both English and Chinese. It also helps stock control and facilitates purchasing. {para} To ensure correct distribution to individual patients, another initiative is to spend $5 million to $6 million in three to four years in replacing old drug trolleys with new ones with separate drawers for each patient. {para} He pointed out the initiatives needed co-operation of doctors, nurses and pharmacists at each hospital. {para} A central pharmaceutical committee and a hospital-based drug committee are expected to be set up at each hospital by the end of this year. {para} The central drug committee, with representatives from each hospital's drug committee, is to review, monitor and further improve drug safety. {para} Doctors will be responsible for prescribing drugs, pharmacists for storage and supply and nurses for administrating drugs to patients. {para} At present, there are no guidelines on drug safety except those set up by the nursing director in 1985 which mainly focus on the responsibility of nurses. {para} Dr Ko said each hospital could enjoy flexibility by drawing its own guidelines according to the recommendations made by his working group. {para} Another committee for quality assurance will be responsible for a reporting system, which is absent in public hospitals. {para} The system is to trace the source of problems and report it to the headquarters every quarter. Monitoring and improvements are expected to be based on the results collected from the information. {para} The initiatives are the major recommendations made in the draft of new drug administration procedures and practices in public hospitals which was released in June. {para} Up to the end of July, the headquarters had received 40 written submissions. {para} Dr Ko said he was analysing the responses, which pointed out the difficulties that would be encountered in implementation. {/article}

{headline} Judge's warning on role of drug couriers {article} TWO men were sentenced to jail terms of 11 and eight years after the High Court made it clear that no matter how small the role of a courier, it formed a link which allowed the drug trade to continue. {para} Deputy Judge Leong reduced the sentences because the men had pleaded guilty and had assisted the Customs Department. {para} Cheung Choy-fu, 22, unemployed, and Yeung Wo-on, 23, a transport worker, had pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs for unlawful trafficking. {para} Cheung was sentenced to 11 years and Yeung got eight years. {para} Mr Robert Forrest, who appeared for the Crown, said the two defendants were seen by customs officers on August 25 last year leaving a block of flats at Hoi Tak Gardens, Tuen Mun, carrying bags. {para} When they were approached by the officers, the defendants dropped the bags and ran. Cheung also threw away a set of keys. Both were subsequently apprehended. {para} About 400 grams of No 4 heroin was found inside the bags. When asked about the contents of the bags, neither man made any reply. {para} With the keys, the officers entered Cheung's flat, where they found small quantities of drugs in a bag concealed in the headboard of a bed. Paraphernalia associated with the processing of drugs was also found. {para} Mr Forrest said the items seized included a blender, a metal mould, a sealing machine and two rollers. All of these items were found to have on them traces of salts of esters of morphine, counsel said. {para} Cheung said in his cautioned statement that he had been sponsored in leasing the flat by a man named Michael, who had left some drug processing equipment in the flat. {para} Yeung said in his cautioned statement that he had arrived at Cheung's flat the previous night with the intention of going camping the next day. {para} However, the following day, Cheung announced that they were not going camping but instead would be delivering a bag to someone. {para} Yeung had admitted that Cheung told him there were drugs inside the bag and that he (Yeung) would be financially rewarded for transporting it, Mr Forrest said. {/article}

{headline} Plea fails to stop Viet deportation {byline} By KATHY GRIFFIN {article} A PREGNANT Vietnamese illegal immigrant will be deported to China today despite arguments that the move violates international law and possibly the Bill of Rights because it forcibly separates the woman from her husband. {para} The Security Branch confirmed yesterday that Ms Cheu Nguyet Anh, who is five months pregnant, will be taken from Victoria prison with 14 other Vietnamese and handed over to Chinese authorities at the border today. {para} Ms Cheu and the others had settled in China after fleeing Vietnam and were not treated as asylum-seekers, unlike her husband Mr Tran Kim Long who came directly from Vietnam to Hongkong and met Ms Cheu in a camp here. {para} The Secretary for Security, Mr Alistair Asprey, yesterday said they could apply in China to be re-united in Vietnam, or vice-versa, yet the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office said it was not aware of any such reunions. {para} China and Vietnam have long-standing hostilities and the South China Morning Post knows of at least one case where a Vietnamese illegal immigrant from China, who volunteered with his asylum-seeker wife to return to Vietnam, has waited months without an answer. {para} There are 90 other Vietnamese illegal immigrants in sections five and six of Whitehead detention centre, awaiting verification that they had settled in China. {para} Lawyer Mr Michael Darwyne wrote to the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, yesterday lambasting the decision, saying Hongkong was not obliged to be an ``evil witch'' and could reverse the order separating Ms Cheu and her husband. {para} Mr Darwyne said the Governor had the power to intervene and the couple could be either settled in Hongkong or re-settled in a third country. {para} ``It's one person, one baby and one spouse. Our society is so authoritarian that they're prepared to destroy that relationship just to show they are enforcing their immigration laws. {para} ``There are no precedents [to be made] here. You are talking about five couples [in a similar position] - it's not opening the floodgates.'' {para} Mr Darwyne argued that deporting Ms Cheu was contrary to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which states the family should be protected and mothers should be given special protection before and after birth. {para} The deputy chief of mission for the local UNHCR office, Mr Kaiser Zaman, said he did not see any breach in international law. {para} ``Whenever a family is split up, we are concerned of course,'' he said. {para} ``But if certain circumstances result in a family being broken up or whatever, then we will try to reunite them wherever possible.'' {para} Mr Darwyne said there could be a possible violation of the Bill of Rights, which protects the family but allows the Immigration Ordinance to be exempted from meeting its provisions. {para} This exemption had not yet been upheld in court, particularly as to whether it should apply to all sections of the ordinance, he said. {para} Editorial - Page 18 {/article}

{headline} Community groups next {byline} By ESTHER WONG {article} COMMUNITY groups in Hongkong have been encouraged to fight for greater representation in the Legislative Council. {para} The vice-director of the Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Chen Ziying, had told a local delegation that community groups could fight to be designated as a functional constituency in the legislature. {para} Mr Chen was addressing the delegation of the Eastern District Community Association during its visit to Beijing last week. {para} Speaking yesterday at the airport after the seven-day visit, association director Mr Wong Kwok-hing quoted Mr Chen as saying that their demands and wishes for a representation through functional constituencies were reasonable. {para} Mr Chen was said to have encouraged the delegates to achieve their aims through consultation. {para} Mr Wong said community groups included kaifong associations, residents' associations, mutual-aid committees and property owners' associations. {/article}

{headline} Soh wins bid for separate trial {article} THE High Court yesterday granted barrister Eddie Soh Chee-kong's application for a separate trial on a conspiracy charge relating to the escape of disgraced lawyer Warwick Reid. {para} The case was severed from an indictment involving five other defendants. {para} All six will be tried on a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice charge in connection with Reid's escape. Charges of assisting an offender with intent to impede his apprehension or prosecution have been left on file. {para} Deputy Judge Jones heard two days of arguments from Mr John Haynes, for Soh, and supported by counsel for the other accused that Soh, 50, should get severance. The application was resisted by Mr Adrian Huggins QC, for the Crown. {para} One reason put forward by Mr Huggins was that if Reid received a three-year reduction in his sentence, he would be released by July next year and there was a grave risk he would not give evidence after that. {para} Reid is serving an eight- year sentence for corruption after pleading guilty in July 1990 to having more than $12 million worth of inexplicable assets under his control. {para} Another defendant, former top government prosecutor Kevin Egan, 44, who faces four charges including transferring his Australian passport to Reid, got his severance and will be tried separately in early January. {para} No date has been fixed for Soh's trial, but it is expected to be after Egan's trial. {para} The other five defendants, who will be tried jointly, are solicitor Alick Au Shui-yuen, 36; two employees of his firm, Alan Leung Wood-mo, 35, and Mathew Tsang Hing-wa, 28; and two merchants, Kwok Chi-fai, 47, and Yau Kwok- wah, 29. {/article}

{headline} Priorities for Mr Patten: {article} New education policy and resources masterplan. More funding for primary education. Better primary and secondary teacher training. Overhaul of English teaching system. Improved promotion prospects for teachers. More flexible curriculum to encourage greater initiative. Counselling to stop triads, suicides, delinquency. Introduce full-day schooling. {/article}

{headline} Fan set to leave as education chairman {article} LEGISLATOR Mrs Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai is likely to step down as chairman of the Education Commission when her term of office expires at the end of the year. {para} She came under heavy criticism early this year over her stance on whole-day schooling and the increase in class sizes at primary and secondary one schools during her three-year chairmanship. {para} Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower Mr Chris Godwin yesterday said the Government was now actively considering the future direction of the commission. {para} The Education Commission could concentrate on monitoring the implementation of recommendations instead of advising the Government on education matters in future. {para} He said the Education Commission could change within its broad terms of reference which included monitoring the implementation of its reports. Up till now, several recommendations have not been fully implemented. {para} The University and Polytechnic Grants Committee will also have a new chairman early next year. {para} Replacing the present chairman Mr Andrew Li Kwok-nang will be the committee's deputy chairman Mr Antony Leung Kam-chung. {para} Secretary-general Mr Nigel French said Mr Li had indicated his intention to leave the committee when his current term expired. {para} The appointment of a deputy chairman would only be made to prepare him to take over the chairmanship, Mr French said. {para} Mr Leung will assume the chairmanship in April next year and his term will last for three years initially. {/article}

{headline} Education flaws come under fire {article} IN the same week that teachers were criticising the alleged failings of the Education Commission's fifth report, Hongkong students were recording the highest average pass rate at a top British university. {para} When education planners find it necessary to deflect criticism of Hongkong's learning system, they need only point to the territory's economic competitiveness as proof that talent does shine through the blackboard jungle. {para} Yet the rumblings of discontent over the apparent neglect of education have never been louder. Though schools and higher learning institutes invariably command the biggest portion of the Government's budget, no one is satisfied with the way that money is being spent. {para} Critics charge that education policy is still rooted in a 1960s mentality of high population pressures and labour-driven economic growth, providing rudimentary skills for the largest possible number at the cheapest price. {para} While universities demand an independent, mature intake attuned to the pressures of a high-technology age, the average tertiary student got his start in a rundown classroom run on a battery hen system of split morning and afternoon sessions. {para} The unique status of school graduates as Hongkong's sole natural resource has never been matched with the individual attention that some believe is necessary to ready them for their role in society. {para} Mr Luke Yip, headmaster of St Stephens College, asked: ``How can they be prepared [for the community] when their school life is such a miserable thing? They are not treated as humans. They are more like chickens, or robots.'' {para} Spending on education is marginally higher now than a decade ago, but has fallen by about four per cent in real terms as a share of the Government budget. {para} In any case, the maximum level of funding on education is fixed as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) by the Financial Secretary, leaving little administrative flexibility. {para} Primary school numbers have declined since the 1970s because of high levels of migration, but are expected to level off again soon. {para} The introduction of compulsory education and the nine-year degree course in the same period have greatly increased the secondary school population, while the number of tertiary students is due to reach 18 per cent by 1994-95 - up from two per cent 10 years ago. {para} ``Even though we have this big expansion programme in the secondary sector, and we are going to have this big expansion in the tertiary sector, the relative size of the education sector as compared to the whole Government budget has actually shrunk,'' Mr Anthony Ha Man-ho, head of the Education Action Group, said. {para} Frustrated by constantly changing population trends, the Education Commission reports introducing major changes in policy are often out of date. {para} Legislators admit that the landmark fourth report, which recommended spending $400 million on education over the next three years, has had a difficult gestation period. {para} ``When ECR4 was presented, it was presented as a package, but of course when it came to implementation, partly because there had been some political pressure, we had to forgo part of that, but partly also because of resource restrictions,'' Mrs Selina Chow, convenor of the Omelco Education Panel, said. {para} ``So what you ended up with, was instead of the whole thing being implemented as a package, it had to somehow be chopped up.'' {para} The same ``resource restrictions'' have raised doubts over the viability of the fifth report, which increases spending on the tertiary sector. {para} After years of campaigning for increased attention on the neglected tertiary area, educators now find they have bloated universities and a primary/secondary sector incapable of filling them. {para} ``The Government seems to draw lines arbitrarily to fit in with expansion for the sake of expansion - there is poor planning,'' Mr Au Pak- kuen, vice-president of the Hongkong Professional Teachers Union, said. {para} ``It's a problem of effective expenditure and needing a master plan.'' {para} The fifth Education Commission report will seek to reverse declining standards by improving teacher training and hiring more graduates, which most educators regard as the key challenge. {para} But the change in teaching strategy may not be enough on its own. Rising social problems such as triad infiltration, suicides and delinquency point to a widening gap between schools and the family and the failings of the traditional rota system of learning. {para} Tertiary educators say students are not being equipped to cope with changes in the employment market, lack strong individuality and the ability to think independently, and are locked into a mode of selfish competitiveness. {/article}

{headline} Classrooms put heat on pupils {article} TAKE 40 students and sit them in a classroom without air conditioning in 34-degree heat and the will to learn soon dissolves. {para} According to one teacher with 25 years' experience, overcrowded classrooms are at least a bad learning environment and at worst potentially fatal. {para} ``The classes can be as big as 44 students, although some quit after the school year starts so they are more likely 40 to 41 students,'' Ms Pauline Chow Lo-sai, an English and history teacher at Wellington College in Kowloon Bay, a bought-place private school, said. {para} ``When the temperature is high and the students come in from recess or being active everyone is breathing and the room is very hot because there is no air conditioning. {para} ``Sometimes I send them out to the washroom to wash their faces with water, but sometimes they fall asleep in class.'' {para} Ms Chow said overcrowded classrooms also meant 40 students would each receive less than one minute of individual attention during a 35-minute lesson. {para} This could affect the speed at which a teacher identified students' learning and personal problems, such as those leading to suicide. {para} ``You tend not to identify learning problems and even personal problems until much later because there is not so much individual time,'' she said. {para} ``Even after class, you cannot get through seeing that many students.'' {para} This was particularly so with younger students. {para} ``When you're teaching Form Four students preparing for the HKCEE [Hongkong Certificate of Education Examination] you have a tight syllabus to cover and you have to follow a strict routine,'' she said. {para} ``The older students at least recognise this and see they have to work hard for themselves, but the 13-year- olds don't see this and it can be hard to stop 40 of them from becoming restless.'' {para} Ms Chow said overcrowding meant that middle performers often missed out. {para} ``You tend to only pay attention to the very good and the very bad ones and the average ones are neglected,'' she said. {para} This was confirmed by one student at a Kowloon school, who said: ``The teacher does not always speak to you. They tend to always talk to certain students, and you can go a whole lesson without talking to the teacher.'' {/article}

{headline} Tertiary admission procedure `ignored' {byline} By EDDIE LEE {article} A UNIVERSITY department head has said tertiary institutions over-enrolled students this year because they feared high rejection rates would leave them with too many unfilled places in courses. {para} He admitted that the universities were also accepting applications from students who simply walked in off the street - instead of following admission procedure regulations. {para} The reports of enrolment irregularities have brought an angry response from students who were unable to secure a tertiary place despite having good grades. {para} Official spokesmen for the six universities and polytechnics in the Joint University and Polytechnics Admissions Scheme argued that the institutions had no way of knowing the exact number of students who would accept university offers and could not risk leaving spaces unfilled. {para} Students Alex Ong Lee- wah and Andrew Ng Ping-chung, both 19, said they were refused university places despite scoring two As and one C in the Hongkong Advanced Level Examination. {para} When they asked why, they were told the tertiary institutions were not following admission regulations. {para} ``The remaining tertiary places have just become first-come, first-served and if you [a matriculated student] dare to walk in and ask for an offer at once, even though you might have only three Cs, you have made it,'' Alex said. {para} The row over the enrolments procedure comes amid claims that universities are deliberately lowering their qualifying standards because too few students achieved high passes. {para} Education flaws come under fire - Page 5 {/article}

{headline} Ho denial on CRC role in Legco votes {byline} By CONNIE LAW {article} LEGISLATIVE Councillor Mr Edward Ho Sing-tin yesterday denied he had been influenced by the Co-operative Resources Centre (CRC) following criticism from his constituents that he failed to consult and represent them in Legco. {para} Thirty-two surveyors and architects wrote an open letter criticising Mr Ho's decisions on the Legco debates on the Omelco consensus model and the multi-seat single-vote system in July and said they were ``acts of retrogression in the development of representative government in Hongkong''. {para} Mr Ho followed Mr Hui Yin-fat and Mr Simon Ip Sik-on to become the third functional constituency legislator to be blasted by constituents over his position on the Omelco consensus debate. {para} Mr Ho yesterday promised that if he ever joined a party, he would insist on preserving the right to side with his constituents on matters that were in conflict with the party. {para} A surveyor, who refused to be named, said Mr Ho owed his constituents an answer on why he supported the Omelco consensus model in 1989 and not in 1992. {para} He said constituents suspected Mr Ho took his stand because he was a member of the CRC. {para} Claiming that he voted for Mr Ho last year, the surveyor said on important issues such as these, it was vital for Mr Ho to consult his voters beforehand. {para} He said the legislator gave an impression that he had engaged in party politics at the expense of the image of the profession, and that he had failed to take an objective stand and act according to conscience. {para} He called for Mr Ho to hold meetings with the Hongkong Institute of Architects, Hongkong Institute of Surveyors and Hongkong Institute of Planners to explain his votes. {para} He also believed there was a need for Mr Ho to consult more than the three institutes' councils on major issues. {para} An architect, who also declined to be identified, said she was not aware of Mr Ho consulting his constituents since his election. {para} She believed that Mr Ho should not join the CRC because there were bound to be conflicts of interests with his role as a representative of architects, surveyors and planners. {para} Mr Ho expressed surprise at the criticism and said he regularly briefed the councils on his Legco activities and reported his work in the three institutions' journals. {para} ``I have seized every opportunity to meet my voters,'' he said. {para} But he agreed that the consultation mechanism could be improved. {para} On his CRC membership, Mr Ho said: ``My judgement has not been influenced by it. The CRC does not bind me over any decision.'' {para} Asked if he would consult his electors before making a decision on whether to join a party in the future, Mr Ho said he did not think there was a need to do so because he had not ruled out joining a party during his election campaign and he believed any democratic society needed a party system. {para} A vice-president of the Hongkong Institute of Architects, Mr Rocco Yim Sen-kee, said Mr Ho had always kept the institute's council informed of his Legco activities. {para} Mr Yim said the council did not expect Mr Ho to consult it over every decision he would make in Legco. {para} He said the council did not have a position on the Omelco consensus model and the multi-seat single-vote electoral system. {para} Mr Yim said the council would work out a position paper in the next two months on the adequacy of the current consultation mechanism and on what the institute expected Mr Ho to do as its Legco representative. {/article}

{headline} Rule change for elections {byline} By LANA WONG {article} A NEW measure will be introduced for future elections following alleged fraudulent practice during the Legislative Council by- election in New Territories West last Sunday. {para} The marking of ballot papers for voters will in future require the presence of the two most senior staff at polling stations instead of one as required under current practice, the assistant registration officer of the Registration and Electoral Office, Mr Chan Yuk-lun, said. {para} The decision was made on Tuesday after a review of Sunday's election. {para} Of the 16 complaints lodged with the office on polling day, one was made against an assistant presiding officer who was accused of not marking the ballot paper according to the voter's choice. {para} Under the Electoral Provisions (Procedure) Regulations, presiding and assistant presiding officers are empowered to mark the ballot paper for illiterate, blind and handicapped people. {para} Mr Chan said the officer concerned was immediately sent back to the Registration and Electoral Office in Wan Chai for further inquiries. {para} He had not been asked to report back for duty to avoid further complications or complaints. {para} Mr Chan said the incident on Sunday was not the first of its kind. {para} The alleged fraudulent practice was not reported on the spot but hours after the vote was cast and there were no other witnesses. {para} In light of this, the Registration and Electoral Office decided to require the presence of both the presiding and assistant presiding officer at polling stations to witness the marking procedure. {para} ``We tried our best to make a fast and major improvement,'' Mr Chan said. ``Hopefully, there will not be a repeat of this kind of complaint again. {para} ``If the need arises, we will provide more manpower resources [for the polling stations].'' {para} The measure will be applied in the forthcoming by- elections for the Regional Council and District Board prompted by the death of Mr Stephen Ng Ming-yum. {para} The ICAC, which is investigating Sunday's complaint, declined to comment yesterday. {para} According to government figures, an average of 25,500 illiterate, blind and handicapped people sought assistance of some sort during the 1991 elections for the Legco, Municipal Councils and District Boards. {para} A substantial number are believed to have involved the marking of ballot papers or giving guidance on voting methods. {para} In the district board elections last year, 27,391 illiterate, 235 blind and 1,250 handicapped people asked for assistance compared with the respective figures of 24,248, 344 and 1,064 in the Legco direct elections last September. {para} Mr Chan said this kind of assistance would probably be most needed in rural and older districts including Wong Tai Sin, Shamshuipo and New Territories North and West. {/article}

{headline} Legislators leave for China talks {byline} By CATHERINE CHAN {article} FIVE independent Legislative Councillors will leave for Beijing this morning to discuss the constitutional development of the territory with Chinese officials. {para} They will meet the Director of the State Council's Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Lu Ping; the vice-chairman of the National People's Congress, Mr Wang Hanbin; and other Chinese officials during their three-day visit. {para} The legislators are Mrs Elsie Tu, Mr Andrew Wong Wang-fat, Mr Martin Barrow, Mr Simon Ip Sik-on and Mr Eric Li Ka-cheung. {para} Mrs Tu said in a statement they would cover topics such as the workings of Legco and nationality issues. {para} Law and order, the development of a local civil service and economic relations with the mainland will also be discussed. {para} Mr Wong said the committee structure, electoral system and the progress of talks held by the Joint Liaison Group were likely to be on the agenda. {/article}

{headline} Teacher appalled at standards {article} A REVIEW of the grammatical standards of some English textbooks has driven one language teacher almost to the brink of despair. {para} The South China Morning Post found the worst examples in textbooks not prescribed by the Department of Education. Some examples read: ``A table is made up of wood'', ``Simon do not like to play piano'', ``While I was doing, I . . .''. {para} Yet the selection in bookshops suggests teachers are often forced to choose between grammatically correct but boring textbooks, and colourful books with entertaining subject matter and a low standard of English. {para} Dr Amy Tsui Bik-may, a lecturer in the department of Curriculum Studies at the University of Hongkong, trains English teachers and travelled around the territory to see what kind of books schools had chosen. {para} ``We couldn't see what the exercises in a lot of the books wanted to achieve in terms of teaching, and the books don't teach the students how the language works with full information.'' {para} An English language teacher from Kwun Tong Government Secondary School, Mr Lau Yuk-kee, examined drafts for five books recommended by the Department of Education for a modern English course. {para} He found errors in all the books, which he said would ``reflect and so reinforce common errors made by Hongkong speakers of English. They occur in a book recommended by the Education Department and so they will be accepted by some teachers as correct''. {para} He said the books taught incorrect grammar, incorrect useage, incorrect style and used incorrect examples and mechanical exercises. {para} Mr Lau edited the drafts to demonstrate. {para} `You could get meat, fruits or an axe'' had to be revised to ``you could get meat, fruit or an axe''. {para} ``Of course they do not use horses now'' did not indicate who ``they'' referred to. It could not be ``the riders'' who, by definition, would still be using horses, Mr Lau said. {para} ``It gave secondary school students simple knowledge about computers'' was an example of Chinglish, and had to be revised to ``It gave secondary school students a simple explanation of how computers work/are used.'' {para} Towards the end of his examination of the drafts, Mr Lau noted in capital letters that ``Students must not be encouraged to write this way. Every year examiners complain that students try to write in a complicated manner and make mistakes. Students need to be taught simplicity and accuracy.'' {para} Even after the draft was amended and the current edition printed, Mr Lau found mistakes such as ``What is he?'' instead of ``What does he do?'' {para} Finally, at the end of his critique, he noted: ``I can't go on. There are just too many mistakes.'' {/article}

{headline} Green deal with Canada {byline} By SUSAN FURLONG {article} BILATERAL trade in green technology and expertise will be stepped up after Hongkong and Canada sign an environmental co-operation agreement on Tuesday. {para} According to a government spokesman, the Memorandum of Understanding will pave the way for a greater exchange of information on environmental problems. {para} The agreement will be signed by the Secretary for Planning, Mr Tony Eason, and the Canadian Minister of State for the Environment, Ms Pauline Browes, who will visit Hongkong next week. {para} It will focus on five target areas - environmental impact and assessment, environmental education, waste management, clean technologies and atmospheric pollution. {para} The issue of greater co-operation on the environmental front was first discussed when Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Brian Mulroney, visited Hongkong last summer. {para} But a spokesman for the Commission for Canada said the Rio Earth Summit last June gave additional impetus to negotiations. {para} ``At Rio it was decided that agreements on trans-border pollution were not enough,'' the spokesman said. {para} ``There had to be a greater exchange of technology and personnel between countries.'' {para} Given the strong trade and immigration links between Hongkong and Canada, it was natural for the two places to develop ties in other areas, such as the environment, he said. {para} The director of Friends of the Earth, Mr Peter Illig, welcomed the agreement, saying such an initiative was long overdue. {para} ``We need more information and expertise geared to educating business and industry that there are alternatives and that environmental friendliness doesn't have to hurt,'' he said. {/article}

{headline} Laws lead to big drop in pollution {byline} By KATHY GRIFFIN {article} THE amount of pollution being dumped into Junk Bay and Port Shelter has decreased by up to 76 per cent following the application of water pollution laws there, while fish have returned to Sai Kung's Ho Chung River - former site of the notorious Pollux dyeing factory. {para} The river used to be a variety of colours thanks to the dyes used in the factory which was closed down by the Government in 1990 because of repeated violations of pollution laws. {para} The river had to be dredged to remove black, contaminated rocks but is now an acceptable shade of green, with dozens of fish. {para} Environmental Protection Department (EPD) officer Mr Eddie Tse said the fish probably came from upstream where the water was cleaner. {para} The river is not totally free of sewage - effluents from livestock farms and household kitchens and laundries still pour into it - but these cause less damage than Pollux and will be controlled within a year when a new sewer is built. {para} Dr Daniel Lau Che-wai, who heads the EPD local control office covering Junk Bay and Port Shelter, led a tour of the area yesterday and said the river had been one of his office's main targets. {para} ``It was [targeted] because of the extent of pollution and the benefits of improving it to the local community,'' he said. {para} ``The quality of the water used to be no better than a sewage collection system. Now fish swim there and people can walk along the bank.'' {para} But he cautioned that this success may not necessarily be repeated elsewhere. {para} A lack of cash has delayed efforts to introduce water pollution laws in Victoria Harbour, where Hongkong's most serious problems occur and which EPD officials earlier estimated would require more than 100 enforcement staff. {para} Dr Lau said the harbour, which is the territory's most polluted body of water, would not see the improvements experienced in Junk Bay and Port Shelter without the implementation of the mostly-unfunded $23 billion sewage disposal strategy. {para} Port Shelter is unsewered but residents and industry can control pollution with septic tanks and sewerage treatment systems, while Junk Bay is a relatively new development with a newer sewerage system. {para} Measurements of Port Shelter's sewage load show biological oxygen demand and suspended solids, which indicate sewage, dropped 72 per cent and 76 per cent, respectively, after the area was declared a water control zone in 1990. {para} In Junk Bay, biological oxygen demand was down 48 per cent and suspended solids down 68 per cent since 1990. The improvements were mainly due to treatment of waste water by industries. {para} The EPD has 14 water pollution staff in Port Shelter and Junk Bay working on enforcement and inspection, 10 for noise pollution and five for air pollution, but they need at least 10 more staff. {para} Dr Lau said there was still much to achieve in terms of tackling waste water from commercial premises such as restaurants which do not treat their effluents or discharge them into the sea rather than foul sewers. {para} However, his officers have reported successes in reducing air and noise pollution. {para} He also said most industries were complying with the law, despite earlier warnings that factories would be forced to shut down or move across the border. {para} Dr Lau said the approach at the local control offices was to combat pollution with an integrated approach, which was necessary because some factories created more than one type of pollution. For example, bleaching factories often cause both air and water pollution. {para} The office's work also involves liaising with the district boards and community groups. {para} Meanwhile, the Government said yesterday that a disposal fee for rubbish was being considered for privately collected commercial, industrial and construction waste taken by the private sector to landfills. {para} A spokesman said it was not intended at this stage to introduce a fee for domestic wastes. {para} The fee is intended to encourage minimisation of wastes and reduce the demand at landfills, which are rapidly running out of space. Details have yet to be worked out and industry will be consulted. {/article}

{headline} Campaign to aid pro-China poll chances {byline} By JEREMY LAU {article} CHINA'S Hongkong affairs advisers have been asked to take part in a campaign which, according to its promoter, will help business and pro-China candidates win in the 1995 Legislative Council election. {para} The 44 advisers recently received a letter from defeated Legco election candidate Mr Eric Leung Ka-ching asking them to join the campaign, which he said he tried in last year's election and claimed to have ``defeated'' the United Democrats of Hongkong (UDHK) in the New Territories East constituency. {para} Proclaiming himself a ``political consultant'', Mr Leung claimed that in last year's election there were no ``escort'' candidates except in New Territories East, so the UDHK was able to defeat independent and pro-China candidates. {para} ``At that time it only took me 35 days to publicise and a limited $180,000 to knock out the `Kings of the Votes', Lau Kong-wah and [Johnston] Wong Hong-chung, and thus indirectly giving [Andrew] Wong Wang-fat, [Emily] Lau Wai-hing and [Tony] Kan Chung-nin opportunities to win,'' he said in the letter, dated August 20. {para} ``If the same method is used to escort pro-China and business sector candidates in the 1995 direct election, victory is certain. We are planning this project, which would have far-reaching effects on the progress of Hongkong, and would need your great support.'' {para} Mr Leung added that the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, had been rewarded with the governorship for helping the Conservative Party win the British general election last April. {para} If pro-China and business sector candidates won in the 1995 election, Hongkong affairs advisers would surely get ``reasonable rewards'' from Beijing, he said. {para} Mr Leung also sent copies of the letter to the State Council of China, the Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office under the State Council and the local branch of the New China News Agency. {para} An emigration consultant, Mr Leung scored the least votes of the seven candidates in last year's election. {para} Of the 176,916 votes cast, he won only 306 and his election deposit of $10,000 was forfeited because he failed to attract five per cent or more of the votes. {para} Mr Leung, a Canadian passport holder, could not be reached for comment. {para} One of the advisers, Mr David Chu Yu-lin, said he had thrown the letter away immediately after reading it. {para} ``This is really ridiculous,'' he said. {para} Mr Chu said one had to use proper and moral ways to get elected rather than resorting to the ``magic'' suggested by Mr Leung. {/article}

{headline} Plane evacuated after engine scare {byline} By TOMMY LEWIS {article} TWO hundred and eighty passengers were evacuated from an Air China Boeing 747 last night after smoke was seen coming from one of its engines just before takeoff from Kai Tak airport for Beijing. {para} None of the passengers aboard Flight CA110 was injured in the incident and they were all booked into hotels after the flight was delayed until 11.20 am today. {para} Although several fire engines went to assist the aircraft shortly before 6 pm, firemen were not required to deal with the faulty No 3 engine, a Government spokesman said. {para} Passengers aboard the flight said there was no panic, but they had no knowledge of what was going on. {para} From the time the plane stopped near the end of the runway and taxied back to the terminal, no announcements were made to the passengers until they were told to collect their hand baggage and leave the aircraft when it came to a stop. {para} A Beijing-based Polish correspondent, Mr Krzysztof Darewicz, said that after boarding the aircraft, passengers had to wait for more than 30 minutes before it moved to the runaway. {para} He said he took a nap, but woke up when he realised the aircraft was taxiing along the runway. {para} ``As the engines accelerated and as the aircraft was about to lift off it suddenly stopped and veered left to a second runway,'' he said. {para} ``Several fire engines were shortly seen speeding to the plane and escorted it back to the terminal. {para} ``A crew member then made an announcement informing passengers to take all their baggage and leave the plane immediately.'' {para} Mr Darewicz said that no explanation was given and passengers were told to wait in the transit lounge. {para} ``We were later told we would be accommodated in two hotels for the night as the flight to Beijing had been delayed until 11.30 am tomorrow,'' he said. {para} A businessman from Oslo, Mr Erik Engerud, said there was no panic among passengers. {para} ``I heard a bang seconds before the plane came to a stop near the end of the runway,'' he said. {para} ``I don't know what had happened and there were no announcements being made by any of the crew aboard the aircraft.'' {para} Mr Engerud said he saw several fire engines escorting the aircraft back to the terminal before the passengers were told to collect their baggage and disembark. {para} ``I didn't know what had happened and I did not seen any smoke or fire on the aircraft as I disembarked,'' he said. {para} A Portuguese lawyer, Mr Manuel Silva, on his way to Beijing on a business trip, said he had no idea what had happened. {para} ``The aircraft, which was about to take off, suddenly stopped and turned left to the other runaway and returned to the terminal, where the passengers were told to alight,'' he said. {/article}

{headline} Goodlad arrives as Exco choice narrows {article} WITH a month to go before his pivotal maiden speech to the Legislative Council on October 7, the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, will not be short of topics to dis- cuss with his friend and former House of Commons colleague, Mr Alastair Goodlad, who arrived in the territory yesterday. The visit of the Foreign Office Minister with responsibility for Asia will give him the opportunity to explore his ideas for solving the problems of Hongkong's future development with a man schooled in the same political traditions. {para} The immediate focus is on the composition of the Executive Council, and its relationship with the Legislative Council. Mr Patten is in the throes of selecting candidates for his inner cabinet, and his selection will be seen as highly significant. The individuals appointed will represent the Governor's personal choice, and as such will be heavily scrutinised for what they say about Mr Patten's preferences. {para} Even the Director of China's Hongkong and Macau Affairs office, Mr Lu Ping, seems to agree that the choice is Mr Patten's to make. The Executive Council is not a ``through train'' under the Basic Law, in that the first chief executive of the Special Administrative Region on July 1, 1997, will be able to pick his own team. {para} The current reality, however, is that China's strong views on the relationship between the two councils, and its opposition to putting Mr Martin Lee Chu-ming and other leading members of the United Democrats on to the Executive Council, may make Mr Patten's appointments a test of convergence or divergence with the Basic Law. {para} Although the basic choice appears to be between total separation of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council, or the appointment of ``trusty'' legislators to the executive body, there are other alternatives. {para} Total separation might appear to be the sensible route. It would offer Mr Patten a range of options between imposing his will on a weak advisory group - and thereby ensuring his government is executive-led - and, at the other end of the scale, running a presidential-style system with high-calibre individuals given politi- cal responsibility for differ- ent aspects of policy. These ``ministers'' might be from any walk of life as in the American system. However, many local people with serious political ambitions beyond 1997 may be unwilling to assume such responsibilities in the final years of British rule, for fear of offending China. The alternative - promoting policy secretaries from the civil service - would impair the Council's credibility, both as an independent policy-making body, and as a source of fresh ideas. {para} China, however, is suspicious of separation, fearing it would increase the propensity of elected members of the Legislative Council to veto Executive Council decisions, by claiming the moral high ground over an unelected executive. Moreover, it interprets the ambiguous phrasing of the Basic Law as stipulating the appointment of legislators to the higher body. {para} Yet the alternatives pose their own problems. Although appointed seats will not disappear from the legislature until 1995, the incumbents are already highly politicised. Eleven out of 17 are members of the Co-operative Resources Centre (CRC). Even if the CRC fails to redefine itself as a party, its conservative policies set its members at odds with the liberal camp. Confining himself to independents leaves the Governor with little choice, and his toughest task is finding the right people. That problem is writ large with the Executive Council. In that case, he not only has to identify those prepared to serve, but also those who are ready to pledge him their loyal support in promoting policies, on the principle of collective responsibility. {/article}

{headline} Language problem hits talks {byline} By JEREMY LAU {article} EXPATRIATE members of the Airport Consultative Committee (ACC) will be unable to take part in a meeting with senior Chinese official Mr Chen Zuo'er this afternoon because of the lack of simultaneous interpretation. {para} The meeting is intended to let ACC members voice their opinions on the current deadlock over financing for the new airport and its associated railway. {para} An expatriate member of the committee, Mr Gerry Higginson, said he had received a letter from ACC chairman Mr Wong Po-yan about the meeting with Chinese officials at the One Country Two Systems Economic Research Institute at the old Bank of China. {para} But the invitation, written in English, said there would be no simultaneous interpretation. {para} ``It's disappointing,'' Mr Higginson said. {para} Another expatriate member, Mr David Morris, said: ``I'd be delighted to attend the meeting if there were translation facilities. Since there is no translation, I will not attend the meeting.'' {para} The third expatriate member of the ACC, Mr Heinz Rust, was unavailable for comment. {para} ACC chairman Mr Wong said yesterday that he had considered the plight of the expatriate members, but he could do nothing because there were no translation facilities at the venue. {/article}

{headline} Five appear over blast in car park {article} FIVE men appeared in Eastern Court yesterday in connection with the bombing of a car belonging to a shop owner. {para} Cheung Shu-tai, 55, Cheung Leung, 19, Wong Kwan-pak, 20, and Law Tin- ho, 28, all unemployed, were jointly charged with causing an explosion at a car space on the first floor of a Wilson car park in Causeway Bay on August 13. {para} Shop owner Yim Chun- lung, 29, also faced the same charge. {para} The case was adjourned to August 28 pending legal advice. {para} Cheung Leung was granted bail of $30,000 cash and a surety in a similar amount. The other defendants were remanded in custody. {/article}

{headline} Candidates rush to help victims {byline} By JIMMY LEUNG {article} CANDIDATES for tomorrow's Legislative Council by- election, together with sitting legislators, rushed to the Tuen Mun Hospital yesterday to assist those injured in the power station explosion. {para} Mr Albert Ho Chun-yan, the United Democrats of Hongkong's vice-chairman and a candidate for the New Territories West by-election, said he was concerned about the safety of public utilities because their facilities affected people's lives and property. {para} Calling for a joint China Light and Power/Government investigation, he said government bodies, such as the Labour Department, must be given the right to go in and investigate accidents and should not be stopped other than for safety reasons. {para} Another candidate in the by-election, Dr Tang Siu-tong, said the explosion indicated that workers did not have sufficient industrial safety knowledge. {para} ``They should be better taught about awareness of industrial safety,'' he said after visiting some of the injured workers. {para} Yesterday evening, four members of the Co-operative Resources Centre visited the site of the explosion and the victims in hospital. {para} They called on the CLP to step up its security measures for the new power plant the company planned to build on Lantau. {para} They also said the company should make sure the power supply would not be interrupted if similar accidents occurred in future. {para} The call was made after Mr Gilbert Leung Kam-ho, Mr Ronald Arculli, Mr Lau Wong-fat and Mr Steven Pook Kwok-lim met company officials in the afternoon. {para} Mr Leung said they were concerned about the welfare for the victims and their families, and would help them to get public assistance or compensation for their injuries. {para} New Territories West Legco member Mr Zachary Wong Wai-yin criticised CLP for not allowing legislators and Labour Department officials into the plant to investigate the incident immediately after the blast. {para} ``They arrived shortly after the explosion but were not allowed in to check the damage,'' he said. {para} ``It seems CLP is trying to cover the incident,'' he said, adding that four Labour Department officers and himself were stopped from entering the plant without explanation. {para} ``Senior staff members of the power station refused to talk to us, only saying that there would be a statement [on the explosion],'' Mr Wong said. {para} CLP spokesman Mr Albert Chan Yu-chung said it was necessary to seal off the scene for two or three hours after the explosion. {para} ``We needed to close the area to check the damage as well as allow firemen to do their job,'' he said. {para} ``Another reason was safety because if we allowed other people to go in shortly after the blast then what happens if another explosion occurred while they were there? {para} ``Concerned Legislative Councillors, including Mr Lau (Chin-shek), district board members, the Labour Department and the press were allowed in in the afternoon to see for themselves the damage caused by the explosion,'' he said. {para} Mr Wong of Meeting Point said he was worried about the safety of the power plant after the explosion as CLP claimed its safety record was excellent. {para} ``A full and independent investigation by CLP and the Government are needed in order to prevent future tragedies,'' he said, maintaining that result of the inquiry be made public. {/article}

{headline} UK warned by China on reserves {byline} By JEREMY LAU {article} CHINA yesterday explicitly voiced its concern about attempts by Britain to ``milk'' Hongkong's reserves through the $23 billion airport railway project. {para} The concern was expressed in an editorial in Beijing's mouthpiece in Hongkong, the Wen Wei Po newspaper, only three days after a senior Chinese source called on the Government to increase its investment in the rail link. {para} The source said that the Hongkong Government should, among other things, use land premiums generated by property development along the airport railway and land sales on Chek Lap Kok to build the rail link and the airport. {para} Yesterday's editorial said the liability for the railway could be substantially reduced if the Hongkong Government injected its $42.5 billion share of the land premiums into the projects. {para} Premiums generated by land sales have to be divided equally between the Government's General Revenue Account and the Land Fund of the future Hongkong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government. {para} The editorial said income from the new airport project should be spent on the project itself. {para} ``Nevertheless, the British Hongkong Government does not intend to make such an arrangement but wants to make it part of its land sale revenue. {para} ``The British Hongkong Government intends to inject $3.7 billion into the airport railway but to obtain proceeds of $21.25 billion from land sales, thus making a profit of $17.55 billion,'' the editorial said. {para} ``The British Hongkong Government only wants to profiteer through the airport railway project and shifts the heavy financial burden to the SAR government. This is unreasonable.'' {para} The editorial said the solution to the financing of the new airport had to be found by the British side, because the Memorandum of Understanding clearly stipulated that the British Hongkong Government was responsible for the core programme for the airport before June 30, 1997. {para} Meanwhile, a Hongkong affairs adviser yesterday called on the Chinese Government to put its share of land premiums towards the airport railway in order to be fair to both governments and the people of Hongkong. {para} Mr Edmond Lau Ting-chung, who is also a member of the Airport Consultative Committee, does not believe the railway should be funded only by loans, saying that interest rate fluctuations might prolong the repayment of debts. {para} Borrowing money to build the railway would also limit the future expansion of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation because it already had heavy debts, he said. {para} However, Mr Lau said China's proposal was another extreme way to finance the railway. {para} The fair way to resolve the deadlock was for both sides to inject a fair share of the land premiums into the project, he said. {para} The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hongkong urged the Government to consider China's proposal. {/article}

{headline} Woman hiker, 25, falls to her death {byline} By KATHY GRIFFIN and MARIITA EAGER {article} A HELICOPTER rescue effort was unable to save a 25- year-old woman who fell to her death yesterday from the rock face near ``Suicide Wall'' on Kowloon Peak. {para} Miss Mak Oi-mei fell about 500 metres and it took rescuers more than two hours to reach her after the fall was reported at 12.56 pm. {para} A Civil Aid Services mountain rescue crew arrived at the scene at about 2 pm, the same time a Royal Hongkong Auxiliary Air Force helicopter was called in. {para} Rescuers located Miss Mak at 3.17 pm and she was taken to hospital by helicopter but was pronounced dead at 4 pm. {para} Miss Mak was hiking with a friend, Miss Y. K. Leung, 25, who was also taken to hospital after feeling unwell. {para} Chung Kin-man, who attempted to conquer Mount Everest earlier this year, said he used to climb Kowloon Peak to train for his assault on the Himalayan peak. {para} ``I've been up Kowloon Peak thousands of times. It's one of my training spots and I wouldn't say it's a dangerous mountain or that it is one of the problem climbs. {para} ``But hikers have to be careful. There are three or four ways to climb the peak; some routes are for hikers, and the others are for experienced rock climbers.'' {para} Chung said many hikers tried to climb the rock face only to get into trouble higher up the 602 metre peak. {para} ``Only an experienced rock climber with all the right equipment should try to climb the rock face routes. It is very steep at the top, especially where Suicide Wall is,'' he said. {para} The mountaineer warned hikers not to attempt rock climbing if they were inexperienced and suggested they remain on the hiking routes. {/article}

{headline} Company chief faces new charges {article} FOUR further charges of conspiracy to defraud and theft were yesterday laid against the chairman of the publicly- listed Intercontinental Housing Development Holdings Ltd (IHD) at Eastern Court. {para} No plea was taken from Ch'ng Poh, 53, who is accused of conspiring with the former executive of the Ka Wah Bank, Low Chang-hian, and bank executives Doreen Yong Poh-choo, Victor Tan Khai-chong and Quek Teck- huat to defraud IHD and its shareholders and creditors. {para} The offence is alleged to have taken place during July and August 1985. The charge claims the defendant dishonestly caused and permitted the company to take part in an exchange of cashier orders and cheques circulated through the Ka Wah Bank to show that IHD had been paid more than $127 million. {para} The charge also claims an attempt was made to conceal the fact that the $127 million belonging to IHD was used improperly to give financial assistance to Join Park Ltd to purchase 77 million shares in IHD from Territorial Development Ltd. {para} The charge accuses Ch'ng of having caused and permitted the $127 million to be used to give financial assistance in the purchase of the 77 million shares with a risk that IHD would not be repaid the sum or that IHD would not receive assets worth that amount. {para} Three additional theft charges allege that Ch'ng, in July 1985 and January 1986, while being under an obligation to Mr Ngai Shiu-kit to deal with the proceeds of a cashier order for part payment of the 77 million shares in IHD, stole a total of $4,779,190.64 belonging to Mr Ngai, being part of the proceeds of the cashier order. {para} He also faces a charge of publishing a false report to the shareholders of IHD in December 1985. {para} The charge accuses him of having concurred in publishing the annual report of IHD for 1985, which to his knowledge was misleading, false and deceptive in that it did not state that on August 17, 1985, the $127 million had been withdrawn from the company's bank account with the Ka Wah Bank. {para} Magistrate Mr John Meredith adjourned the charges to October 21 for the case to be committed to the High Court. Ch'ng was granted bail of $5 million in cash and two sureties of $500,000 each. {/article}

{headline} NT taxis seek surcharge {article} NEW Territories taxi drivers will propose to the Transport Department in the next two weeks the introduction of a midnight surcharge and a festival surcharge for the Lunar New Year period. {para} The president of the NT Taxi Owners and Drivers United Committee, Mr Choi Kwok-hung, said the committee would advocate a $1 surcharge on commuters travelling in taxis between midnight and 6 am. {para} The proposed $2 festival charge would be effective for a six-day period during the Lunar New Year holiday. {para} Mr Choi said: ``Business is slow after midnight but we can't stop services altogether. The extra $1 midnight charge will serve as an incentive [for drivers]. {para} ``The festival surcharge will compensate drivers who have to work and could not be with their families.'' {para} The drivers hope both proposals could be implemented from next year. {para} Their request came a day after revelations that complaints against taxi drivers rose by 36 per cent in the 1991-92 financial year. {para} But Mr Choi claimed that his committee received fewer than 20 complaints about New Territories taxi drivers every year. {para} But legislator Mr Zachary Wong Wai-yin said the proposed surcharges were unnecessary. {para} ``Midnight passengers usually give bigger tips to taxi drivers; for a $12 fare, they pay at least $15,'' he said. {para} On the proposed festival surcharge, he pointed out that other service industry workers also had to work during the holidays. {para} The committee will also seek a $1 flagfall increase from the present $8 to $9 to bring New Territories taxis into line with their urban counterparts. The subsequent charge of 80 cents per 200 metres would remain, said Mr Choi. {/article}

{headline} Nude actor Tony Leung also a hit with his clothes on {article} ACTOR Tony Leung Ka-fai, who made a name taking his clothes off for the controversial film l'Amant, has been named one of Hongkong's best dressed people. {para} Leung, and his 18-year-old English co-star Jane March, were at the centre of ``did they, didn't they'' speculation when the Jean-Jacques Annuad film was released earlier in the year because of its explicit sex scenes. {para} But last night, Hongkong's leading fashion designers emphasised that clothes do make the man when they named the 32-year-old father of eight- week-old twin girls as one of the territory's snappiest dressers. {para} He and nine other celebrities had their dress sense rewarded with the presentation of gold and diamond pins during the Hongkong Fashion Designers' Association annual fashion show at the Regent Hotel. {para} Entitled ``A Celebration of Harvest'', it showcased collections for 1992-93 by 13 local designers. {para} But the highlight of the gala presentation was the announcement of this year's 10 best-dressed personalities. {para} They included kung fu actress Michelle Yeoh, community leader Mrs Alice Chiu Tsang Hok-wan, former actress Mrs Fanny Ma, ballet school owner Mrs Jean Wong and popular singer Sally Yeh. {para} The five men named were Leung, banker Mr Wayne Leung, company director Mr Garrison Rousseau, hotelier Mr Rogier Verhoeven and restaurateur and businessman Mr Allan Zeman. {para} Young local designers were also honoured at the Hongkong Trade Development Council-sponsored event. {para} Hongkong Polytechnic Swire School of Design student, Miss Gladys Wong, took the Young Talent Award while classmate, Mr Denn>

{headline} Tourist events in Tibet criticised {byline} By ROBBIE BARNETT {article} THE Italian tourism ministry is involved in an extravaganza in Tibet next week, which a major British newspaper described yesterday as a violation of Tibet's sacred sites. {para} Italy's Director General of Tourism, Mr Stefano Torda, will lead a delegation to stage a fashion show in front of the Potala Palace and hold banquets next to Lhasa's sky-burial site, according to the Observer, in an article headed ``Sacred Sites Violated for the Sake of Fashion''. {para} The Lhasa Holiday Inn, in conjunction with SIAT, an Italian state tourist company, is running an Italian fashion and food festival in Lhasa. {para} The festival is intended to act ``as a clear sign of the relaxed times'' in Lhasa, according to Mr Alec LeSueur, a spokesman for the Lhasa Holiday Inn, who added as evidence of the new openness that the Chinese were allowing the hotel to open a casino later in the year. {para} ``There is a large degree of political involvement in the composition of the group,'' Holiday Inn said. {para} Forty Italian designers are taking part in the fashion show. {para} In addition, an American swimwear company, Catalina, is exhibiting swim suits at the hotel as part of the festival, which includes the opening of a new hotel swimming pool. {para} The delegation and the tourists will be allowed to go to the ``forbidden monastery'' of Rato, where they will have ``a superb lunch'' on the roof. {para} The monastery has been forbidden to tourists. {para} The hotel has arranged with the government that there will be no sky burials taking place while the visitors are eating their lunch, the spokesman said. {/article}

{headline} Transport body upset at new role {byline} By GREG TORODE {article} FEARS are growing among some members of the Transport Advisory Committee that their work could be undermined by an increasingly political and questioning Legislative Council. {para} A Transport Branch spokesman has confirmed some members have asked the Government to clarify the role and powers of the committee, made up of 11 private specialists and six civil servants appointed to advise the Executive Council on policy issues. {para} Sources close to the committee said it was used to operating in a near-vacuum situation where policies could be considered without priority given to political or public reactions. {para} Members now want clarification on what weight they would have to give to such factors, knowing some Exco decisions could face challenges in Legco. {para} Since the Legislative Council election last September, many private members felt under pressure from all sides of the political spectrum and an increasingly vocal Omelco Transport Panel. {para} Some members have told vice-chairman, the Secretary for Transport Mr Michael Leung Man-kin, that they no longer understood their role in a new political environment. {para} They explained they were unsure of how to handle things on a political level and the arrangements for giving advice. {para} The mood could not be pinned on any recent advice or decision in particular, but it was clear many felt threatened. {para} The Branch spokesman said the government had decided, however, that the terms of reference were broad enough. {para} But branch sources said the government was working on a package to enhance the image of the Transport Advisory Committee as a principal advisory body. {para} Further reassurances are expected when the committee reconvenes later this month. {para} Government sources said the committee had traditionally held a high-profile with press conferences after meetings but now faced a situation where transport was a popular and easy political issue. {para} A source said: ``I don't think the committee minds having decisions run against them but they are facing the need to be cautious when exposing themselves to what could be a political issue. {para} ``It's no fault of the committee, but a teething problem of the rapid pace of change in Hongkong's public arena. {para} ``Transport issues affect the lives of everybody everyday are always great fodder for any democracy.'' {para} Many were watching how the committee would cope in the new climate, the most public of tens of other non-statutory advisory committees, made up of appointed official and unofficial members. {para} Convenor of the Omelco Transport Panel Mrs Miriam Lau Kin-yee said the role of the committee remained the same as ever but they did face a world where public input was growing all the time. {para} She denied any political moves to usurp the group. {para} ``They remain the experts, it's as simple as that but the Omelco panel is yet another channel to listen to public opinion and that is a very important role. {para} ``Likewise they've got to appreciate they still have a very important function and they've got to stick by that,'' she said. {para} Committee chairman Professor Leung Chi-keung is currently not in Hongkong. {/article}

{headline} Councils win right to set fees {byline} By CONNIE LAW {article} LEGISLATORS have decided to give the two municipal councils complete autonomy to decide their fees. {para} Mr Ronald Arculli, the convenor of a Legislative Council ad hoc group studying the increase of fees and charges by the Government and the two councils, said members unanimously agreed to the proposal. {para} He said that at present the fees, amounting to about seven per cent of the total revenue of the Urban Council and five per cent of that of the Regional Council, could be raised only if the legislature endorsed the changes. {para} He said that members agreed to the new arrangement because the amount concerned was small and the councils were financially autonomous. {para} Urban and Regional councillors were also accountable to the public for their decisions, he said. {para} In addition, the assembly still had a say on the percentage of rates the councils received. {para} Rates made up 80 per cent of the two councils' income, he said. {para} Mr Arculli said members could not find any historical or legal reasons for some fee increases needing Legco's endorsement and some not needing it. {para} He said giving the councils complete independence to decide their charges would lead to ``a better utilisation of their [the councils'] time and our [legislators'] time''. {para} On fees charged by the Government, he said the group was still seeking explanations from the administration on how it determined the level of charges and why some exceeded the cost. {para} He said it also wanted to know the criteria the Government used in determining what types of services it should subsidise. {/article}

{headline} Tertiary student fees to soar {article} TERTIARY education fees for students will increase by as much as 50 per cent in the next academic year, it was announced yesterday. {para} Student-union leaders have protested strongly against the rise, which will take effect for the academic year 1993-94, saying the extra financial burden would be too much to take. {para} The Government yesterday announced that the new fee per year for degree (first degree) courses would be $17,000. The new fee for sub-degree (diploma and higher diploma) courses would be $12,750. {para} These compare with $11,600 and $9,000 respectively for the current academic year. {para} ``This could deter students from receiving tertiary education,'' said Mr Fong Tak- ho, president of the University of Hongkong Student Union. {/article}

{headline} Rain cuts ferry profits by a third {byline} By GREG TORODE {article} HEAVY rain in the first part of this year shaved millions off the profits of Hongkong Ferry Holdings (HKF). {para} HKF yesterday posted a half-yearly net profit of $42.5 million, compared to $63.3 million for the same period last year - a drop of 33 per cent. {para} ``It's very disappointing but we are sure it's a seasonal thing, there was not much we could do with all the heavy rain,'' a spokesman for the company said. ``It certainly kept people away.'' {para} Profits generated by the company's ferry operations dropped from $10 million for the first six months of last year to $7.1 million but things would pick up in the second half of the year, the spokesman added. {para} Losses were eased by HKF's trading, travel and estate management operations. {para} But the spokesman said the results were not helped by the Government's delay in approving a 14.3 per cent average fare rise on all routes - the first since November 1990. {para} The results, though disappointing, were not enough to stall any current projects, including the possible purchase of two $30 million high-speed ferries for the Tuen Mun to Central route, the spokesman said. {para} Meanwhile, Mr Tony Henderson, the vice-chairman of the newly-formed watchdog Islands District Council, said the results would not deflect the group from its attempt to force the company to reclassify Saturday as a working day instead of a public holiday. {para} HKF made Saturday a public holiday in the latest fare increases to bump tourist tickets up more than those for residents, with deluxe holiday fares to Mui Wo and Cheung Chau jumping $5 to $23. {para} Last week, the company announced residents could buy their tickets for Saturday on Friday to beat the rise, but the council fears the move still sets a dangerous precedent. {/article}

{article} A MAN suffered serious head injuries in a fight with another man in Pei Ho Street in Shamshuipo last night. {para} The incident occurred at about 7.30 pm, during a dispute over a woman. {para} One man picked up a piece of iron pipe and threatened Mr Leung Charn-fei, 36, who attempted to run away but tripped and fell to the ground. {para} His attacker than grabbed his hair and banged his head on the ground before running away. Police arrived shortly after and took Mr Leung to the Caritas Medical Centre. {/article}

{headline} Hunt for blackmail witness {article} POLICE were given another week to locate a 60-year-old foreman who was allegedly blackmailed by actor Sing Fui-on so that he could testify at a District Court trial. {para} Sing, 36, better known as ``Big Silly'', faces one count of blackmail which allegedly took place on August 6 last year. {para} The defendant pleaded not guilty to having threatened the foreman of a construction company to pay him $320,000 at Nam Wai, Sai Kung. {para} Senior Crown Counsel Mr Josiah Lee explained that as the main witness - the alleged victim - was out of town, the summons was not served on him. {para} Mr Lee applied to adjourn the case for eight weeks to allow police time to find the witness and to see if he was willing to give evidence. {para} He said the witness was believed to be working as a foreman in Macau but efforts to trace him had failed despite advertisements placed in two Chinese newspapers circulating in the enclave. {para} A local police inspector went to Macau to trace the foreman but failed. {para} Defence counsel for Sing, Mr Alan Hoo QC, said that a week's adjournment would be more than ample. {para} Since the case was transferred to the District Court last December and the trial date had been fixed last January, Mr Hoo said the Crown should have informed the defence about the situation earlier than yesterday. {para} He said the serious nature of the allegation had affected his film career - the number of films in which he played a supporting role had slipped from 20 last year to three this year. {para} Judge Tyler accepted Mr Hoo's submissions and adjourned the case until Friday September 4 for mention. The case is expected to last three days. {para} The accused, who had to report once a week to the police station, had his bail extended at $100,000 cash and two sureties totalling $200,000. {/article}

{headline} Compensation over fatal club blaze {article} THE families of four employees of King Ford Mahjong Club who were killed in a blaze when three men set fire to the club were granted compensation by the District Court yesterday. {para} Judge Downey ruled that the deaths of the four men arose out of their employment and that their families were entitled to compensation under the Employees Compensation Ordinance. {para} The four men were Lam Wai-lap, 29, Tai Kwok-ching, 39, Yim Sze-tung, 27, and Leung Ping-wah, 30. {para} The court heard that at 3 am on September 11, 1990, three men violently entered the first floor of the Hunghom club, poured petrol on to the carpet and set it alight. {para} While most of the occupants escaped unhurt, six people died from the inhalation of fumes from the fire. Five of the deceased were employed by the club and one was a customer. {para} The respondent, the club, submitted that the circumstances in which the men died constituted an accident but denied that the accident occurred during the course of their employment. {para} It contended that the four deceased were off-duty. {para} Three of the deceased, Mr Lam, Mr Yim and Mr Leung, were playing mahjong with a customer named Mr Liu Kin-wah when the fire started. {para} The three men had almost finished their work when they had been approached by a Mr Chiu Tat- ming, the man in charge of the club, to play mahjong with Mr Liu, a regular. {para} The judge said that all doubts as to whether the deceased were acting in the course of their employment were removed by virtue of information in a statutory form completed by the major shareholder of the club, Mr Liu Tai-cheong. {para} In the form, there is the specific question: ``Did the accident occur in the course of work?'' {para} ``In each case, Mr Liu answered in the affirmative,'' said the judge. {para} The fourth deceased, Mr Tai Kwok-ching, was also ruled as having been working at the time of the fire. He was expected to complete his work at 4 am and the fire started at 3 am. {para} The judge adjourned the case to assess amounts. {/article}

{headline} 150 saved in office blaze drama {headline} 150 led to safety in blaze drama {byline} By PAUL TYRRELL, TOMMY LEWIS and KAREN CHENG {article} FIREMEN led more than 150 people to safety last night after they were trapped for more than two hours in a burning Central office block. {para} At least three firemen were injured while fighting the fourth alarm blaze which broke out on an upper floor of the International Building in Des Voeux Road. {para} Six other people - five women and a man - were also taken to hospital after complaining of the effects of smoke inhalation. They were treated and discharged. {para} The fire broke out at about 5.30 pm on the 19th floor of the 30-storey building and quickly spread. The 18th and 20th floors were soon affected and office workers from the upper floors were unable to escape down the building's stairs. It was put out at 2.17 this morning. {para} At least 20 people, fleeing from dense smoke, made their way to the roof and waited for firemen to rescue them. {para} More than 100 firemen were on the scene with a fleet of 17 appliances and ambulances. {para} Teams of firemen wearing breathing apparatus conducted a floor to floor search for people and led them down the building to safety while other teams conducted a search for the seat of the fire. {para} At the same time, firemen used powerful hoses to pump water into the building to quell the blaze. {para} Hundreds of office workers gathered around to watch firemen at work and police were forced to cordon off part of Gilman Street and Des Voeux Road to prevent them from hampering fire-fighting operations. {para} The cause of the fire was not immediately known as firemen were still fighting the blaze with six jets early this morning. However, the 19th floor was known to be undergoing extensive renovation. {para} Hongkong Island's Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Mr Henry Tang, arrived at the scene shortly after the fourth alarm was raised and directed the fire-fighting operations. {para} A Fire Services spokesman said the blaze was raised to the fourth alarm because of the fast-spreading flames and the large number of people reported to be trapped inside the building. {para} By 9.30 pm it was reported to be under control but suddenly more smoke billowed out from the building causing police to move onlookers further away from the scene. {para} Early this morning, reports said the 17th floor facing Gilman Street was also well alight. Damage was described as ``considerable''. {para} ``The biggest problem for our men was not the fire, but the smoke,'' said the spokesman. ``We did not want to risk bringing the people down until it was completely safe to do so.'' {para} He stressed that the workers were in no danger while they were waiting to be taken out of the office block. {para} One of the trapped people, who gave her name as Ms Poon, was working on the 25th floor and was only aware of the blaze after hearing the alarm. {para} ``No sooner had I heard the fire alarm than I saw very dense smoke coming from downstairs,'' she said. {para} ``I was scared and everyone was running around. The situation was so confused that I did not know what to do. {para} ``I stayed in the office until the firemen came and helped me up to the roof. The smoke was so dense that I kept on coughing, even when I got to the roof.'' {para} Some of the trapped people preferred to stay in their offices until they were forced on to the roof by firemen. {para} One said: ``I saw some smoke but the situation at the scene did not look like the fire was very serious. So I decided to stay in the office. {para} ``I waited there for about half an hour and then the firemen came and asked me to move up to the roof.'' {para} Another man, working on the 22nd floor, said he saw smoke but did not notice any fire. {para} ``There were many people around but no one panicked,'' he said. ``We wanted to go to the roof at first but found the door was locked. {para} ``So, we decided to go down and stay on the 29th floor until the firemen came to our rescue.'' {/article}

{headline} Prison for counterfeit credit cards {article} A RESTAURANT supervisor who was repatriated from Holland to Hongkong to face charges of possessing counterfeit credit cards was jailed for three years by the District Court yesterday. {para} Fong Cho-shan, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain property using forged credit cards and possessing implements for forgery. {para} In May last year Fong agreed to travel with two men to buy items with counterfeit credit cards. {para} The trio left Hongkong for Amsterdam with 28 counterfeit credit cards and two British passports belonging to other people. The names of the cards corresponded with the names on the British passports. {para} On arrival at Schipol airport, Amsterdam, the following day, they were searched and detained by Dutch authorities. The cards and passports in question were found in the possession of the defendant and one of his co-travellers. {para} Both men were subsequently repatriated to Hongkong. {/article}

{headline} Under-16s seek advice on pregnancies {byline} By SUSAN FURLONG {article} AN INCREASING number of girls under 16 are turning to youth health centres run by the Family Planning Association (FPA) for advice about unwanted pregnancies, according to the association's executive director, Dr Margaret Kwan Suk-wa. {para} ``We are aware that in those centres the clients are becoming younger. We're concerned about the drop in age,'' she said. {para} The FPA runs youth health centres in Wan Chai, Mongkok and Yuen Long to give advice on fertility and sexuality to people under 26. {para} ``The average age of our clients is between 16 and 18, but we're now seeing more people under 16,'' Dr Kwan said. {para} The FPA has yet to compile statistics on the age breakdown for youth centre clients last year, but in 1990 the association saw 132 people under the age of 16. {para} Of the 1,858 people who attended the youth centres last year, 49 per cent sought advice on pregnancies or menstrual difficulties. This was a nine per cent increase on 1990. {para} But the number of young women seeking post-coital contraception (the morning after pill) had dropped by 10 per cent, Dr Kwan said. About 32 per cent of clients asked for the morning after pill last year compared with 42 per cent in 1990. {para} These statistics highlighted the need for increased co-operation between schools and parents to provide young people with sex education, Dr Kwan said. {para} ``First of all we have to make parents aware that they are the main source of information for their children. Sex education begins at home,'' she said. {para} The FPA runs seminars and discussion groups on sex education for parents, but Dr Kwan said more had to be done to encourage parents to put what they have heard into practice. {para} She suggested the formation of a parents club to keep the issue firmly on the family agenda. {para} One encouraging piece of news, she added, was that slightly more young women approached the youth centres for advice on contraception, from three per cent of new clients in 1990 to 4.3 per cent last year. {/article}

{headline} Health care funds `wasted' {byline} By FIONA CHAN {article} LOCAL health care is lagging behind international developments and squandering millions of dollars in taxpayers' money, the president of the Hongkong College of General Practitioners, Professor Natalis Yuen Chung-lau, claimed yesterday. {para} The Government had been unable to create a balance between hospital care, which was expensive and catered for just two per cent of the population, and primary health care, which was cheap and prevented people from having to go into hospital for treatment, he said. {para} Primary health care is currently provided by the Department of Health and includes out-patient clinics, central health education, school health services and special preventative programmes for AIDS and hepatitis B. {para} Undergraduates at the University of Hongkong and the Chinese University spent 95 per cent of their practising hours in hospitals but 98 per cent of the community did not need hospital care, Professor Yuen said. {para} ``Doctors trained in hospitals are ill-equipped to practise in the community,'' he said. ``The problem is that we are training doctors who cannot meet the needs from the community. {para} ``We are training scientists for hospital care who know advanced medical technology.'' {para} Professor Yuen said that Singapore was set to cut the number of hospital beds because of its significant achievements in primary health care. {para} The ratio of hospital beds to the population in Singapore was 3 1/2 per 1,000, while in Hongkong the ratio was 4 1/2 per 1,000, which was still not enough to meet the need, he said. {para} The World Health Organisation had agreed the only way to contain medical costs was to deliver good primary health care and family medicine, he added. {para} The Government's bias was revealed in the allocation of resources under the current budget. {para} In February, the Government announced the Hospital Authority would receive $10.03 billion, while the Department of Health, which was responsible for primary health care, would get $1.43 billion this financial year. {para} Professor Yuen said fewer than 10 lecturers in the two universities specialised in primary health care training. {para} He also revealed that the two universities were considering excluding family doctors and community physicians working for the two institutions from opting for the new salary package. {para} He said the move would not only hit morale by creating two classes of lecturers, but would also make it difficult to recruit staff. {para} The fight for the new package hit the headlines this summer and the Government finally agreed to provide a choice of parity with doctors employed by the Hospital Authority. {para} Professor Yuen said it might be 20 years before the results of developing a hepatitis vaccine were appreciated, but people were impressed by breakthroughs in hospital treatments such as liver transplants. {para} He said the tuberculosis vaccine, which was cheap, could have significant effects in that there were no more cases in Hongkong and some tuberculosis hospitals had been closed. {para} He said a majority of more than 3,000 doctors were general practitioners in the territory and needed further training because the public had become more selective. {para} He said the Government did not provide any financial support to his college, which was set up in 1984, to train family doctors, and no extra money was allocated for the two teaching institutions to run the relevant courses after the release of a 330-page working party report, Health for All, the Way Ahead, last year. {/article}

{headline} Extradition bid for Gao failed {byline} By Staff Reporters {article} THE Hongkong Government rejected a request by China to hand over a Shenzhen police officer who sought political asylum after escaping to the territory in March, the South China Morning Post has learned. {para} Mr Gao Peiqi, a 43-year- old senior police officer of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, escaped to Hongkong on March 21 and sought refuge in the territory. {para} Although Mr Gao is in London where he has applied for political asylum, details of his escape have emerged that suggest Hongkong authorities turned down a request from Chinese authorities to hand him over, out of concern that he would face political persecution. {para} Last month, Mr Gao hit the headlines when he made public claims of corruption among Shenzhen public security officials. {para} But Shenzhen authorities were unaware of his escape to Hongkong until late June when reports began to circulate about his presence in the territory, sources said. {para} Shenzhen police are understood to have approached the Hongkong Government late last month demanding his extradition after learning he had been in Hongkong. {para} But the mainland officers were said to have been told that the Hongkong authorities had no information of Mr Gao's whereabouts. {para} It is understood that on July 23 five senior officers of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, including vice-director Mr Yang Shuitong, arrived in Hongkong and met the Police Commissioner, Mr Li Kwan-ha. {para} Sources said that during the meeting, Mr Yang demanded Mr Gao's extradition, but was told the Hongkong police had no knowledge of his whereabouts. {para} The extradition request was sanctioned by the Shenzhen Communist Party Central Committee and authorised by deputy party secretary Mr Li Youwei, the sources added. {para} The five-men team then reported back to the Shenzhen authorities and Mr Gao was classified as a ``counter-revolutionary element'' in an internal document circulated within the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, sources said. {para} It is understood the Hongkong Government was concerned about the extradition request and Mr Gao was asked to meet with the Political Adviser's Office on July 24. {para} He was urged to maintain a low profile and avoid speaking to the news media during his stay in the territory. {para} Mr Gao was flown out of the territory on August 3. {para} The Hongkong and British governments' protection of Mr Gao is believed to have strained relations with the Shenzhen authorities. {para} Hongkong officials declined to comment on the case. {para} ``It is too sensitive an issue and would do the Government no good to talk about it,'' a source said. {para} Speaking in London yesterday, Mr Gao said Shenzhen police wanted him because they feared he might expose their secrets and corrupt practice. {para} ``They were desperate because I am the first Chinese police officer to have escaped because of June 4 [1989] and they knew I possessed a lot of information which they don't want other people to know about,'' he said. {para} Mr Gao, former deputy chief inspector of division 5 of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, was arrested in February 1990 for helping pro-democracy leaders in Beijing escape the country. {para} He was released after six months of investigation and the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau was said to have stated on his release certificate that he was investigated for ``political reasons''. {para} Mr Gao's defection was revealed after he was interviewed by the Associated Press news agency. The interview was published by most Hongkong newspapers on July 22. {para} It is understood the Hongkong authorities approached the United States. However, it might have taken several weeks to seek agreement. Instead, he was allowed to fly to London. {para} According to Mr Gao, he was put up in a ``special home'' on the night of July 29 and flew to London on August 3, where he applied for asylum. {para} Sources said Shenzhen police initially thought Mr Gao had left the Special Economic Zone and travelled to his hometown Tianjin. {para} They only discovered his escape in late June and were not certain he was in Hongkong at that time. {para} ``Of course, they didn't know where I was,'' Mr Gao said yesterday. {para} ``I had not even told my mother of my escape plan.'' {/article}

{headline} Householders may be hit with rubbish disposal fee {byline} By KATHY GRIFFIN {article} HOUSEHOLDERS may be included in a plan to pay a government fee for rubbish disposal aimed mainly at reducing the amount of construction waste dumped at landfills. {para} The Government has agreed in principle to charge industry for rubbish disposal, and the first target is expected to be the construction industry, which accounts for two-thirds of landfill dumping. {para} Householders could also be affected, although officials would only say that domestic premises might be included later. {para} The proposal comes as the Government also considers charging for sewage disposal, an issue which was scheduled to go to the Executive Council last month, but was withheld suddenly and without explanation. {para} A rubbish disposal charge is considered necessary to reduce the amount of waste reaching landfills which are running out of space before new landfills can be established, mainly because of the huge increase in construction waste. {para} The amount of construction waste arriving at landfill sites has doubled since 1990 after previous dumping grounds - at urban reclamation sites and at sea - were reduced or closed off. {para} The Deputy Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, Mr Tony Cooper, said a disposal fee would be ``modest'' and not inflationary, and encourage people to reduce waste. {para} An inter-departmental committee yesterday agreed in principle to the charge and will report to the Finance Committee's public works subcommittee this month. {para} Executive and Legislative Council approval is also required, and industry must be consulted, but the aim is to introduce the fees in the next financial year. {para} Mr Cooper stressed that many details first had to be worked out, including the level of charges, who should pay, whether charges should be phased in gradually, what legislation would be required, and the implications. {para} ``Although it appears a sensible thing to do, as it would encourage people to be more conservative in how they dispose of their waste, and municipalities elsewhere have charges, it is not without difficulty,'' he said. {para} Mr Cooper said the aim was to protect expensive landfill space, which is supposed to accommodate mostly domestic waste. {para} ``To begin with, only certain classifications of waste would face charges and that would not be domestic waste,'' he said, but added ``maybe'' householders would face charges in the long term. {para} He denied that the construction trade was the target of the charge, but Mr Patrick Chan Wing-tung of the Hongkong Construction Association claimed his industry was being singled out. {para} He said waste charges were unfair because the industry already paid for waste disposal through its taxes and disposed only of rubble that could not be re-used or re-cycled. {para} ``This is another way of getting money from the people. We don't believe by levying a waste disposal charge that the quantity of waste will be reduced,'' he said. {para} Mr Cooper said a waste charge would be less complicated than a sewage charge, because levels could be set in-house, rather than through a consultancy study, as was done with sewage. {para} He said the money would go to the Government's general revenue, but Mr Humphrey Keenlyside of the Private Sector Committee on the Environment and Mr Gordon Ng Ting-leung of the Conservancy Association had reservations about this. {para} Mr Keenlyside said it would raise suspicions that the money was only to boost government coffers and suggested that it should be earmarked for recycling instead, or at least be introduced alongside a recycling scheme. {para} Mr Ng said there should be more public consultation on the issue, but felt a disposal fee could encourage industry and people to produce less waste. {para} But he added: ``There is always the fear that it would raise inflation or become a burden for the general public. The incentive should be to reduce waste, not raise revenue.'' {para} Mr Cooper countered that any disposal charge would be kept low and probably not have a ``measurable'' impact on inflation. {para} ``If [companies] are already generating a lot of waste, they already would have substantial waste disposal charges to pay to the contractor who disposes of it. Any [government] disposal fee would not add too much to those costs,'' he said. {/article}

{headline} School in alert over gas leak {byline} By JIMMY LEUNG {article} ABOUT 300 students, teachers and parents at the Hongkong Japanese School in Blue Pool Road, Happy Valley, were evacuated following a gas leak yesterday. {para} They were attending an orientation day for new primary students when they were told by police and firemen to leave at about 10 am. {para} A fireman said that workers installing underground gas pipes near the school had accidentally damaged a gas main. {para} Towngas workers could not immediately shut off the supply because some nearby residential premises were believed to be using gas at the time, creating the risk of an explosion. {para} The damaged main was eventually shut off for repairs after technicians managed to reduce the pressure in the gas pipes. {para} In the meantime, the students, parents and teachers had returned home. Firemen said no one had reported feeling unwell. {/article}

{headline} Gay week cancelled due to lack of interest {byline} By SUSAN FURLONG {article} HONGKONG'S first Gay and Lesbian Pride Week has been cancelled due to a lack of interest among the homosexual community. {para} Spokesman for the organising committee, Mr Samson Chan Kam-wa, said response to publicity had been disappointing with few people coming forward to help organise or participate in activities. {para} Gay Pride Week was scheduled to begin yesterday and continue until August 31. {para} ``There are many gay people to whom the idea of an event like this is new and they were not ready for it,'' Mr Chan said. {para} He speculated that some people were afraid to ``come out'' in public for fear of being stigmatised, while others felt no need to broadcast their sexuality, with which they were perfectly comfortable. {para} The organising committee began work on the project about five months ago, but Mr Chan admitted publicity should have begun sooner and been more widespread in the Chinese press. {para} ``A majority of [gay] people didn't know about the event and those who did know about it either didn't respond or were too slow,'' he said. {para} Mr Chan said the event received wide coverage in the English media, ``probably because the people who read the English press are either expatriate or educated Chinese who tend to be more open minded''. {para} But if the event was organised again next year, publicity would target the Chinese papers to reach more people, he said. {para} ``Personally I'd like to regroup to try again next year, but of course that still requires the solidarity of our own community,'' he said. {para} Meanwhile, a boat party in Victoria Harbour organised by the gay and lesbian group, Horizons, will go ahead as planned on August 30. Tickets cost $180 and there are enough places for 250 people. {para} The Gay Forum will also go ahead on August 31 with a panel of up to six speakers talking on the situation for local homosexuals. {/article}

{headline} Accused `held gun' in $500,000 robbery {article} A MAN went on trial yesterday accused of taking part in an armed robbery in which more than $500,000 worth of jewellery was stolen from a goldsmith's shop. {para} Lam Wai-keung, 43, pleaded not guilty to one count each of robbery and possession of a firearm or imitation firearm at the time of committing the robbery. He is being tried by a jury before Mr Justice Bewley in the High Court. {para} Mr Barry Sceats, counsel prosecuting on a fiat, said in his opening address that three men burst into the Koon Kam Wah Jewellery Shop in Tsuen Wan in the early afternoon of May 17, 1990. {para} Two of them threatened the staff with knives and ransacked the premises, taking away gold ornaments worth more than $500,000, while a third robber stood at the doorway of the shop, brandishing what looked like a pistol, Mr Sceats said. {para} The Crown alleges this man was Lam. Mr Sceats said the three men fled down a lane which led to a car park, where they got into a getaway car and drove off. {para} Lam dropped out of sight for a considerable period after the robbery and was not arrested until July 1 last year in Sha Tau Kok, when he returned to Hongkong from China, the court heard. {para} The hearing continues. {/article}

{headline} Goodlad to report on Viets {byline} From DAVID WALLEN in London {article} FOREIGN Office minister Mr Alastair Goodlad will draw up a first-hand report on the conditions of returnee boat people when he goes to Vietnam next week after visiting Hongkong. {para} Last night as he left London for Hongkong for five days of talks with the Governor and local politicians, Mr Goodlad said all reports so far from British diplomats and agencies showed that the Vietnamese Government had ``honoured in full'' its undertaking not to persecute returning boat people. {para} He hoped the repatriation programme would continue. {para} Mr Goodlad, who will fly to Hanoi on Wednesday, said he wanted ``to talk to as many people as possible, local returnees and people who work with them'' to get a first hand impression of the situation on the ground. {para} He will visit a United Nations-funded resettlement centre. {para} Mr Goodlad arrives in the territory today with the head of the Foreign Office's Hongkong Department, Mr Peter Ricketts. {para} It is his second visit since taking up the Hongkong portfolio after the UK general election. {para} He praised the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, saying ``his style has been very well received''. {para} The minister will discuss Mr Patten's visit to Beijing next month along with the airport deadlock. {/article}

{headline} Goods in $6m haul recovered {article} POLICE have recovered 70 per cent of goods stolen from a Customs and Excise Department supply store in Tai Kok Tsui last Sunday. {para} During a series of raids in the past three days, officers found the items which were part of the $6 million haul of stolen goods. {para} They included 203 televisions, one million cigarettes, 640 projectors, 55 video cassette players and 43 air-conditioners. {para} The items were unmanifested goods seized by customs officers in previous anti-smuggling operations. Some of the goods were case exhibits with others pending government auctions. {para} They were stolen by a gang of at least 10 who broke into the store in Fuk Lee Street, Tai Kok Tsui, and fled with the goods in two container trucks. {para} Kowloon West Crime Unit Two's acting chief inspector, Francis Lai Chung- lim, urged electrical appliance merchants to contact police if approached to buy goods that were claimed to have been obtained through government auctions. {para} He said police raided 10 places and found goods at warehouses in Kwun Tong and Chai Wan and a garage in Yuen Long. {para} Six men aged between 26 and 32 had been arrested during the raids for alleged burglary. {/article}

{headline} Stalled airport talks to resume {headline} New talks on airport tipped {byline} By our Political Desk {article} CHINESE and British officials may return to the negotiation table this week to try to resolve the deadlock over financing of the Chek Lap Kok airport and its rail link. {para} It is understood that the Chinese side has indicated it might be willing to resume talks through the Joint Liaison Group's (JLG) Airport Committee later this week, although the British side is yet to receive a proposal. {para} If the meeting, likely to be an informal session, goes ahead, the Chinese team is expected to inform the British side on its latest proposals for resolving the deadlock on the financing of the infrastructure scheme. {para} A senior Chinese source said on Monday that the Hongkong Government should increase its pre-1997 investment in the new airport and the associated railway to avoid a heavy financial burden on the future Special Administrative Region (SAR) government. {para} China also demanded that land premiums generated by property development along the airport railway and land sales on Chek Lap Kok be used solely for building the rail link and the airport, respectively. {para} British and Hongkong officials yesterday responded cautiously to the proposals while legislators had mixed reactions. {para} A Hongkong Government spokesman declined to comment on the proposals, saying it was difficult to give a response to a background briefing, even if it had been well reported in most newspapers. {para} A British JLG spokesman said the British side of the airport committee had not received any proposals to solve the financing problem. {para} ``We made it clear at the end of the last meeting that we are ready to have another meeting when the Chinese side has reflected on their position,'' he said. {para} Legislative Councillors were divided on the latest Chinese proposals. While some hailed the proposals as a solution to the impasse, others worried that the Government's financial autonomy might be compromised. {para} The infrastructure spokesman for the United Democrats of Hongkong (UDHK), Mr Albert Chan Wai-yip, said that if the Government accepted the proposals, it would mean its equity injection into the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) for building the railway would leap from $3.7 billion to $21.2 billion. {para} This was unfair to the public because they would be made to pay off in five years a project for which the cost could actually be repaid in 20 years, he said. {para} Independent legislator Mr Samuel Wong Ping-wai said the proposals were not feasible because land premiums should go to the general revenue account and the SAR Land Fund. {para} Meeting Point legislator Mr Zachary Wong Wai-yin said he could not see why the use of the land premiums had to be specified. {para} He said it was wrong to (Cont'd from Page 1) refrain completely from borrowing because such an arrangement would help slow the commercial sector's interest in the project. {para} But pro-China legislator Mr Tam Yiu-chung disagreed, saying the proposals were an acceptable solution because the provision of callable equity to the MTRC would become unnecessary, thus removing China's concern. {para} Mr Vincent Cheng Hoi- chuen believed the proposals could help resolve the present impasse. {para} An economist with the Hongkong Bank, Mr Cheng said using the land premiums to cover costs was only another accounting arrangement, but added that generally the disposal of general revenues could not be specified. {para} The Co-operative Resources Centre's (CRC) airport spokesman, Mr Steven Poon Kwok-lim, said the proposal was only a ``second-best solution''. {para} Mr Poon said using the land premiums to build the railway would not reduce the railway's cost or enhance its cost-effectiveness. {para} Airport Consultative Committee member Mr Leung Kwong-cheong said: ``If the proposal is true, I cannot see why the British side can refuse the offer.'' {para} But he believed that public spending on other things would be likely to be cut because of reduced revenue and the public might have to tighten their belts for the next five years. {para} ``And, to be fair, the other half of the land premiums to the Land Fund reserved for the SAR Government should also be invested in the airport project,'' he said. {para} However, committee chairman Mr Wong Po-yan disagreed, saying the equity injected by the Hongkong Government would be enough to solve the problem. {para} The other half of $21.5 billion could be retained for future use, he said. {/article}

{headline} Basic Law convergence spelt out to the Governor {headline} Warning on reform from Zhou {byline} By LANA WONG and CONNIE LAW {article} THE head of China's de facto embassy in the territory has renewed the mainland's call for convergence with the Basic Law in his first meeting with the Governor, in what is seen as a veiled warning against any major political reforms. {para} The call by Mr Zhou Nan, the Director of the New China News Agency (NCNA), comes as Mr Chris Patten is putting together his maiden policy address, slated for October, in which he is expected to outline his plans for constitutional development. {para} China is understood to be concerned that the new style of government under Mr Patten may bring about changes to the political system which will not be conducive to convergence. {para} Hongkong's future political system and the financing for the new airport are understood to have topped the agenda at the more than 1 1/2-hour meeting at Government House. {para} However, it is believed that the issue of appointments to the Executive Council was not raised. {para} Both the Governor and Mr Zhou were tight-lipped about their meeting which lasted twice as long as scheduled. {para} During the meeting, both men are understood to have laid out their position on major issues such as the airport and constitutional affairs and the Governor is believed to have told Mr Zhou that he would map the way forward for the territory's future development - including the political system - in his speech on October 7, although no firm decisions have yet been taken. {para} Both the NCNA and semi-official China News Service issued a similar release last night, saying that Mr Zhou told Mr Patten that to ensure a smooth transition in 1997, both sides had to ``guarantee that Hongkong's future developments will converge with the Basic Law in every aspect''. {para} ``This [convergence with the Basic Law] would be where the fundamental interests of the Hongkong residents and the long-term interests of Britain and China lie,'' Mr Zhou told the Governor. {para} Mr Zhou said he hoped Hongkong's prosperity and stability could be preserved through co-operation between Hongkong and China and that there could be a smooth transition in 1997. {para} To fulfil these aims, the NCNA Director said it was most important to have both Hongkong and China strictly follow and implement the Joint Declaration and the Memorandum of Understanding on the new airport. {para} At the meeting, described by both sides as friendly, Mr Zhou said that he hoped to establish a good working relationship with Mr Patten. {para} In a brief statement issued last night, Mr Patten reiterated that the meeting had not been a negotiating session, adding that they had had useful discussions on many major issues. {para} ``This has been a very friendly first meeting, and I look forward to regular and productive contacts with the Director in the future,'' the Governor said. {para} Meanwhile, Hongkong Affairs Advisers were divided yesterday on whether the Executive Council should be separated from the Legislative Council. {para} According to Miss Maria Tam Wai-chu, the Basic Law did not require the separation of the councils. She said that when the mini-constitution was being drafted and discussed it was understood that the two bodies did not necessarily have to be separated. {para} Miss Tam said if independent legislators were appointed, they could serve as a bridge and a balancing force between the two councils. But she added that because it would be difficult for party-affiliated members in Exco to observe the principles of confidentiality and collective responsibility, serious considerations had to be made before appointing them to the inner cabinet. {para} Another adviser, Mr Simon Li Fook-sean, said Article 55 of the Basic Law only granted the chief executive the power to choose Exco members from the ranks of Legco, public figures and senior officials. {para} It did not stipulate that Legco members had to be appointed to Exco. {para} Miss Tam and Mr Li are among a group of nine local advisers who met the Deputy Director of the State Council's Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Chen Ziying, in Shenzhen yesterday. {para} Another adviser, Mr Cheng Yiu-tong, said they exchanged views mainly on the airport and Hongkong's political system. {para} He said he had suggested to Mr Chen that proportional representation was the fairest electoral system, and that Mr Chen had agreed it deserved consideration. {para} Mr Chen will meet another group of advisers today. {/article}

{headline} 9,000 seek fund grants {article} MORE than 9,000 young people have applied for education grants in the past month under the Royal Hongkong Jockey Club Scholarship Fund aimed at helping underprivileged children pay tuition fees. {para} Donations for the fund are up 18 per cent on last year and nearly $10 million has been set aside for needy students for the 1992-1993 academic year. {para} The scheme, which is run by the Wah Kiu Yat Po Fund, grants subsidies to needy students which pay part or the whole of their tuition. {para} The grants are aimed primarily at Form 4 to 7 students. Lists of successful applicants will appear in Wah Kiu Yat Po in batches from September 1. {para} To ensure the cash goes to needy youngsters, the Hongkong Boy Scouts' Association was called in. Senior members of the Boy Scouts visited applicants at their homes and results of their survey were presented to the Students' Grants Appropriation Committee for final decision. {/article}

{headline} `Flower-trick' pair guilty of robbery {article} A TEENAGER who tried to enter an office on the pretext of delivering flowers and a man who acted as a getaway driver were found guilty of robbery in a High Court trial yesterday. {para} A jury found Chan Pak- on, 16, and Lee Cheuk-man, 21, guilty of two counts each of robbery and possession of an imitation firearm. {para} Mr Justice Sears, who described the holdup as vicious, deferred sentencing until today. A third youth, Lai Pui-kuen, 17, who had earlier pleaded guilty to the four joint charges, will also be sentenced today. {para} The court heard evidence called by Mr Graeme Mackay, counsel prosecuting on a fiat, that the robbery took place at a residential flat in Yuen Long which was also used as a driving school's office. {para} Ms Tang Kwai-hei was at home at about 10 am on November 11 last year when the doorbell rang. {para} She saw Chan carrying a bunch of flowers which he said was for her daughter. He then pointed a pistol-like object at her, threatening to shoot if she did not let him in. {para} He entered the premises with Lai and they tied up and blindfolded Ms Tang, who was also hit on the head with a blunt object. {para} While the robbery was in progress, Ms Tang's sister-in-law, Ms Tang Luk-mui, returned and was overpowered and gagged by the two youths. {para} She freed herself after the robbers fled with $31,000 taken from the two women and called the police. {para} It was the Crown's case that Lee acted as the driver of the getaway car and did not enter the flat. {para} Lee's counsel, Mr Robin Walters, said his client was not physically involved in the holdup and the degree of violence used might not have been within his contemplation. {para} Mr Stephen Llewellyn, for Chan, said his client was not the planner of the robbery. {/article}

{headline} Prison for robbery {article} A MAN who took part in a goldsmith shop robbery and made off with gold ornaments worth $500,000 was yesterday jailed for 15 years by the High Court. {para} The term was imposed by Mr Justice Bewley on Lam Wai-keung, 43, after a jury found him guilty of robbery and possession of a firearm or imitation firearm at the time of the holdup. {para} The judge said it was a serious robbery in which a firearm was carried and the stolen goods were not recovered. {para} There was some evidence that Lam was the initiator of the May 17, 1990, robbery, said the judge. {para} Lam had denied the two charges. {/article}

{headline} Bigger political role urged for authority {byline} By FIONA CHAN {article} THE Governor, Mr Chris Patten, has been urged to appoint more directly-elected legislators, pressure group members and non-medical academics to the Hospital Authority (HA) board in a bid to make it more accountable to the public. {para} Board member, legislator Mr Michael Ho Mun-ka said that because the governing body of the authority did not want to confront the Government over some issues, it often negotiated with the administration through formal channels. {para} He also claimed that certain board members were not even familiar with the authority's affairs. {para} Mr Ho said the 28-member board had failed to promote its policy through the media and did not know how to hit back at recent criticism of the authority. {para} ``The board does not know how and is not brave enough to use the media,'' he said. ``The HA has turned out to be a buffer zone between the Government and the public.'' {para} Criticisms of the head office as unwieldy and bureaucratic had resulted from the Government's decision not to provide an early retirement programme for civil servants working under the Hospital Services Department, Mr Ho said. {para} The board, led by chairman Sir Sze-yuen Chung and comprising community leaders and professionals appointed by the Governor, is responsible for governing the HA. {para} The HA advises the Government on public needs for hospital services, the resources required to meet those needs and how to manage and develop the public hospitals system. {para} Mr Ho said the performance of the HA after its takeover of 38 public hospitals and a number of institutions and services last year had been overshadowed by negative news reports. {para} Mr Ho, who represents the nursing constituency in Legco, has toured 10 public hospitals and will visit all HA hospitals before the new Legco session begins in October, to help identify problems with health provision. {/article}

{headline} `I'll be back, whether you like it or not' a defiant Han tells Chinese authorities {byline} By KENT CHEN {article} CHINESE dissident Mr Han Dongfang arrived in Hongkong yesterday and pledged to continue his fight for free trade unions and democracy on the mainland. {para} Known as China's Lech Walesa for his efforts in forming the mainland's first non-official labour organisation, tuberculosis victim Mr Han said political control had become tighter despite patriarch Mr Deng Xiaoping's recent pronouncements on market reforms. {para} Mr Han is on his way to the United States for medical treatment, and, in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, he said international pressure had forced Beijing to approve his departure. {para} ``The approval for me, and one or two other well-known dissidents as well, to leave does not show that the overall political atmosphere has improved,'' he said. {para} ``Don't forget there are still many people being imprisoned at the moment.'' {para} But he vowed to return home after his treatment and continue his work, saying: ``The Public Security Bureau said I would be welcomed back in future. I told them no matter whether they liked it or not, I would come back. {para} ``I have not considered settling down in the US. I will return to China as soon as my health allows me to continue my work.'' {para} Mr Han, a 29-year-old former railway worker, founded the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Union to organise support for student-led protests in 1989. He was arrested after the Tiananmen Square crackdown and jailed for nearly two years without trial. {para} He claimed yesterday that the political atmosphere on the mainland had become worse since Mr Deng made his Lunar New Year tour of southern China. {para} This year alone, he said, four labour activists had been arrested in Beijing and had yet to be released. {para} And he reacted with anger when told of student leader Shen Tong's arrest in Beijing. {para} He had met Shen just a few days ago, and said: ``We had anticipated this kind of action, but I admire his courage for what he is doing.'' {para} Mr Han, accompanied by his wife, Ms Chen Jingyun, arrived in Hongkong yesterday morning by train. {para} He was greeted at Hunghom station by a representative of Asia Watch, leaders of the Hongkong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, and labour activists Mr Lau Chin-shek and Mr Lee Cheuk-yan. {para} Shortly after his arrival, Mr Han underwent an examination at the British Military Hospital to determine whether he was fit enough for the flight to the US. {para} Mr Han claims his tuberculosis was contracted while in prison when prison officials placed him in a contagious diseases ward after he complained of a stomach ailment. {para} Although the main purpose of his trip is to seek medical treatment in the US, Mr Han said he would also meet dissidents in exile. {para} ``It is only natural for me to talk to these friends. But this should be arranged after my recovery,'' he added. {para} He also said he would talk to leaders of the Hongkong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China and unionists. {para} However, Mr Han was noncommittal on when he would leave for the US and how long he planned to stay. {para} ``My departure for the US depends on the result of the medical checks in Hongkong and the date for me to return to China depends on my health.'' {para} The dissident said recent medical checks showed that his tuberculosis had been brought under control and was not contagious. {para} He said his wife, who is about six months' pregnant, might give birth to their first child in Hongkong or in the US. {para} Mr Han said the police presence during his journey from Beijing to Hongkong had made him feel uncomfortable. {para} The couple and two close friends left Beijing on Sunday and arrived in Guangzhou early yesterday morning. {para} He said at least five plain-clothed public security officers had occupied the seats around them on the train. {para} ``I had tried to keep my trip secret and bought the train tickets through a third party, but the police still managed to find out,'' he said. {para} Mr Han said the police presence during the 36-hour trip had been unnecessary. {para} When Mr Han and his companions arrived at the immigration counter, they found the plain-clothed police officers were already there, giving instructions to immigration officials. {para} Mr Han and his wife were led to a duty officer, who looked at their documents closely, and asked Mr Han why he wanted to leave the country. {para} ``I am going to the United States via Hongkong for medical treatment,'' replied Mr Han. {para} The officer told Mr Han that something was missing in the document. ``If you are leaving for medical treatment, can you produce any proof of your illness?'' {para} Seeing it was useless arguing with the officer, Mr Han threatened: ``If you think my document is incomplete, then I will return home immediately.'' {para} Finally, the couple were allowed to go, but were warned that they should bring all papers with them next time. {para} Even when the couple were on board the Hongkong train, the heavy police presence continued. Two uniformed officers could be seen outside the cabin, although they soon fell asleep. {para} Mr Han said he was not worried that his trip would be hindered by the police. ``If they had made up their mind to let me go, it was unnecessary for them to create obstacles to my departure. They are not that foolish.'' {/article}

{headline} Put an end to debate on the death penalty {article} THE abolition of the death penalty is back on the agenda. Security Branch has confirmed it will try to forward a bill to the Legislative Council in the coming session and Amnesty International has begun a six-week campaign to lobby for the draft to be passed into law. {para} Draft legislation has been ready since shortly after June 1991, when Legco voted 24-12 with five abstentions for the principle of abolition. However, last May the Executive Council decided to put the issue on hold. As armed robberies soared, Exco feared abolition might send the wrong signal that the Government was relaxing its fight against violent crime. {para} The majority of last September's intake of Legco members favoured abolition. However, opinion polls suggest the pro-death view has majority public support. Just before the Exco decision, a University of Hongkong survey showed 84 per cent felt the death penalty should remain on the statute books and should be carried out. Since 1966, the last time a convicted criminal was hanged in Hongkong, the death penalty has been commuted automatically to life imprisonment. There was, however, a significant difference between the generations. Almost 30 per cent of the Westernised under-30s opposed restoring the penalty, compared with 3.6 per cent for those between the ages of 60 and 69. {para} Those who favour the death- penalty, by no means all Chinese, often argue for its use to be restricted to particularly heinous crimes, such as the killing of policemen and bystanders in ruthlessly planned armed robberies. But ultimately, all believe the death penalty is the correct punishment for destroying another life. To those who argue that execution is a vengeance rather than a punishment, they counter that punishment of any form - including life imprisonment is a judicial and social vengeance on a criminal. Others argue that a state which sanctions abortion and killing in war should not feel squeamish about the execution of murderers. A criminal who has murdered, or raped or pushed lethal drugs once must not be allowed to do so again. {para} The arguments on the other side are equally powerful. Statistical evidence shows that the death penalty does not deter (an argument the pro-execution lobby disputes). Meanwhile, a sentence of life imprisonment without parole will prevent recurrence of the crime without the state needing to resort to judicial killing. {para} The Bill of Rights is no help in the matter, sanctioning the death penalty in accordance with the law but adding that nothing in its provisions should be invoked to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment in Hongkong. {para} The one irrefutable argument, however, is that the death penalty is irreversible. A life sentence is not. No matter how good a judicial system, no matter how watertight the evidence may seem at the time of conviction, miscarriages of justice can and do occur. It will not help James Hanratty, the last man to be hanged for murder in England, that his case is being reviewed. If the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four - who were recently found innocent of the terrorist crimes for which they were convicted - had been sentenced to death, the subsequent discovery that the supposedly incorruptible British police had fabricated evidence against them would not have brought them back to life. {para} Under the system of justice in force over the border in China the possibility of a miscarriage of justice seems to matter less. It is not the criminal but the crime that is being punished with show-trials and public executions. Chinese justice, as the French writer Voltaire remarked of the English system after the politically inspired execution of Admiral John Byng in 1757, appears to need a killing from time to time ``to encourage the others''. {para} That kind of thinking sits ill with Hongkong's Common Law tradition and should worry all those concerned with continued justice in the territory after 1997. The Governor, Mr Chris Patten, who has voted against the death penalty in Britain, should take a firm stand in Exco and ensure the abolition bill is finally allowed to make its way to the legislature. {/article}

{headline} HK tests for top dissident {byline} From GEOFFREY CROTHALL in Beijing {article} DISSIDENT Mr Han Dongfang plans to spend about a week in Hongkong undergoing medical checks before flying to the United States as part of a secret deal worked out between the Hongkong, US and British governments. {para} Mr Han is suffering from tuberculosis and cannot take an international flight until it has been determined that his disease is not infectious. He has already undergone two examinations in Beijing but needs further tests in Hongkong. {para} The Hongkong Government agreed to allow Mr Han into the territory on the condition that the visit be kept low-profile, sources said. {para} The Government feared the 29-year-old former labour leader's presence might upset the already fragile state of Sino-British relations, particularly if he was to criticise Beijing's human rights record in the Hongkong media. {para} However, Mr Han has made it clear that his primary purpose in coming to Hongkong is to receive intensive medical treatment and it would not be possible for him to talk to the Hongkong press. {para} The revelation of former Shenzhen police officer Mr Gao Peiqi's presence in Hongkong and permission to seek political asylum in London has noticeably strained relations between Britain and China. {/article}

{headline} HK tests for top dissident {byline} From GEOFFREY CROTHALL in Beijing {article} DISSIDENT Mr Han Dongfang will arrive in Hongkong next week to undergo medical checks before flying to the United States as part of a secret deal worked out between the Hongkong, US and British governments. {para} Mr Han is suffering from tuberculosis and cannot take an international flight until it has been determined that his disease is not infectious. He has already undergone two examinations in Beijing but needs further tests in Hongkong. {para} The Hongkong Government agreed to allow Mr Han into the territory on the condition that the visit be kept low-profile, sources said. He is expected to remain in the territory for about a week. {para} A British Embassy spokesman confirmed the arrangements last night, saying: ``Mr Han is leaving China legally in urgent need of medical attention and will continue his onward journey when he has received it.'' {para} The Hongkong Government had been concerned the 29-year-old former labour leader's presence might upset the already fragile state of Sino-British relations, particularly if he was to criticise Beijing's human rights record in the Hongkong media. {para} But Mr Han has made it clear his primary purpose in coming to Hongkong is to receive intensive medical treatment and it would not be possible for him to talk to the Hongkong press. {/article}

{headline} Illegal hawkers face sweep {byline} By NG KANG-CHUNG {article} THE Urban Services Department has finally decided to sweep the old Shamshuipo market clean by removing more than 2,000 illegal hawkers by the end of this year. {para} According to the two-phase scheme, licensed wet food stalls in the old market in Pei Ho Street will first be relocated to the two temporary markets in Nam Cheong Street and Tung Chau Street next month. {para} Licensed itinerant hawkers will later be re-organised on streets while all illegal hawkers will have to go. {para} Licensed hawkers totalled 800 in the area but another 2,200 were illegal operators, according to the Shamshuipo District Hygiene Superintendent, Mr Lam Tat-sang. {para} Mr Lam said the department would allow some licensed hawkers on the streets there because the area had traditionally been a popular marketplace. {para} Mr Lam said that the department would send roving officers to prevent illegal hawkers returning to the area. {para} He said the department planned to redevelop the old Shamshuipo market and it was hoped that a new multi- storey market could be completed by 1995. {para} Shamshuipo District Board chairman Mr Choy Wai-shek said his board had received many complaints about the hawkers in Pei Ho Street and Apliu Street. {/article}

{headline} Psychic healer fails to soothe HK immigration {byline} By BELINDA WALLIS {article} A PSYCHIC healer from the Philippines, due to start a week-long visit to the territory, did not make it past immigration officials at Kai Tak yesterday. {para} An immigration official said the healer, 51-year-old Mr Placido Palitayan, ``finally decided to return to the Philippines'' after being questioned by airport staff for nearly five hours. {para} His friend and agent, Mr Dan McKee, who went to meet him at the airport, said he was told by officials: ``He's changed his mind . . . he doesn't want to talk to you . . . write to him in the Philippines.'' {para} Mr McKee, who was also interviewed by airport immigration officers, said he was sad, angry and confused over the morning's events. Mr Palitayan, who was due to hold sessions at the Centre for Human Development, a religious centre in Quarry Bay, claims to perform psychic surgery using his bare hands and no anaesthetic. {para} The often bloody surgery, in which he appears to reach into a conscious person's body and remove such things as tumours, is claimed to be painless, with the seemingly open wound healing within seconds and leaving no scar. {para} He also uses ``magnetic massage'', which he claims can cure people of illnesses ranging from migraine to cancer. {para} According to Mr McKee, who runs the Mother Earth International travel agency offering organised tours to spiritual healers in the Philippines, about 40 people had signed up to be treated by Mr Palitayan in Hongkong. {para} But he said that he was not interested in fighting the Government and no other attempts would be made to bring the healer to Hongkong. {para} Immigration, police and Department of Health representatives all refused to comment officially on the case and said Mr Palitayan had not been singled out for close scrutiny. {para} A story in the Sunday Morning Post on August 16, however, said ``anxious'' Health Department officials had called on police to investigate the Filipino psychic surgeon. {para} Mr Palitayan had planned to ask for a donation of about $400 from people he was to see. {/article}

{headline} Man on trial for dishonesty {article} A CASUAL worker who allegedly posed as a health inspector to gain money from restaurant proprietors will face trial in November. {para} Po Pui-tack, 56, yesterday pleaded not guilty in Eastern Court to four counts of dishonestly obtaining $15,000 from the proprietors of four restaurants between October last year and April by falsely claiming to be a health inspector of the Hongkong Government. {para} Po also denied two counts of falsely pretending to be a health inspector. {/article}

{headline} Plea for compassion after wife's death {byline} By VIRGINIA MAHER {article} A CONTAINER truck driver is appealing to the Immigration Department to allow his mainland mother to stay in the territory following the death in hospital last week of his pregnant wife and unborn son. {para} His wife's death has left him with no one to look after his 2 1/2-year-old daughter and he is seeking compassionate treatment from immigration officials. {para} Mr Chan Wan-hong, 38, was accompanied to the Immigration Department yesterday by Kwai Tsing District Board member Mr Tse Wai-ming, who helped explain the reason for the application. {para} Mr Chan's wife, Ms Tong Yin-king, 32, first went to the Princess Margaret Hospital on August 14 to have her baby by caesarean section. {para} She was told to return on Monday, August 17, after a medical check showed she was running a temperature. {para} Mr Chan accompanied his wife to the hospital on both occasions. On Monday last week they arrived at the Princess Margaret Hospital at about 8 am and Ms Tong was admitted. {para} She died that same day, before the baby was born. {para} The Hospital Authority confirmed Ms Tong's death but refused to go into detail because it would be the subject of an inquest. {para} Immigration officials heard that Mr Chan's mother was due to arrive in Hongkong for a visit on Saturday using a two-way permit. They were asked to consider allowing her to remain in the territory permanently. {/article}