New Year is in Mid-FebruarY which allows a longer payment Period. It was also thought to be fairer and
MDSSNGD IROM THD TRDASI'RDR
painful if the Annual Staff Gratuity was spread over the entire
less
year, so that new members, or old members going absent did not receive disproportionate gratuity
bills. Therefore, beginning in March, a HK$I5 fee will be added monttrlY to cover the gratuitY PaYment for the coming year. The response from the membership this year to voluntarily increase their gratuity payment has been cluite substantial.
Recentþ, I have been asked bY members to explain in more detail the current financial position of the Club, and the new fee schedule we will be implementing in December, JanuarY and February.
Firstly, some conìments about the lurancial position of the Club. In general, we are in a sound financial position. Although the new Club premises will exhaust the moneY in the relocation fund, we appear to have sufficient in the Club Reserves and operating accounts to cover the piojected premises renovation and the fitting out expenses. The staffpayroll has increased due both to the increase in the staff to service the new Club, and cost of living and merit normal to the increases due to the staff. We have tried to keep these rises withi¡ guidelines;however, we are very much aware that good staffare hard to keep because of the increased demand for necessary
Two, old members should not be called upon to shoulder a disproportionate burden ofrelocation. The burden should be spread in an equitable way across both the old and new membership. Three, the character ofthe Club, although changing in the mix of its membership, should not change in the atmosphere it promotes. Four, the Club must be run on a sound fìnancial footing, taking into
consideration cuÍent as well
not an easy task, especially with
a
vocal and diverse membership. However, the Board has instituted the following new fee schedule to promote a's much æ possible the poücies listed above. 1. Monthly fees have been reduced, and new membership fees have been increased for Associates. The increase is substantial. A limited
number of corporate memberships will also be available. In this way we hope to shift sôme of the burden for paying for the new premises to
tion of the move very little was spent by previous Boards on uniforms, crockery, silverware and glassware.
new members. In response to fears that a significant increase in membership may saturate our new bar and restaurant facilities, we have also put a temporary ceiling on membership.
have to be purchased
within the next few months. There will also be other fitting out and settling in expenses.
However, at the moment we believe that we have the financial resources to open the new Club in a fully operational way without going to the membership for additional funds. The present Board as well as Past Boards has believed that the Club should beneltt the membershiP. We
long
To implement these policies is
trained staffin the hotel industry. During the last Year in anticiPa-
New supplies will
as
range commitments.
2. The Relocation Fund
¡ '
charge
will
be
paÍorize the Club shöutd enjoY the
reduced by half and renamed the Development Fund. The Development Fund will be established to make it possible to anticipate another possible relocation in five years time when the current lease runs out, as well as accumulate funds to spend on specific capital or major expense items, such as for example a new walk-in freezer, or
benefits of the Club.
repainting of the Club after two or
have tried to
fulfil this philosophy by
following four basic Policies. One, those members who
three years. The DeveloPment Fund will continue to be a segregated fund which can be sPent onlY for
limited purposes.
3. The food and drink will continue to be subsidized by membershiP fees. Although some items on the new menu will be increased, the PolicY ofpllowing members who use the Club facilities regularly to benefit from lower than cost restaurant and bar prices, will continue. 4. Part of the cost for major improvements in the new Club has been fìnanced by leasing equiPment rather than the outright purchase of the equipment. Such major items as the air conditioners, kitchen equipment and dumb waiters have been leased for which we paY a montlrlY leasing charge. In this waY, Part of the cost of our current renovation will be passed on to the membership over the coming five Years. However, our current rent Plus leasing charges are still substantially less than our previous monthlY rental bill at Sutherland House. 5. The I-ottery we haYe been running for the last year and a halfhæ been very successful in raising money, but also has come under some criticism as not being really necessary any more. The govemment license for the lottery runs out earlY in the coming year, and the Board will review the need for continuing the lottery at that time.
6. The Annual Staff GratuitY
has
always raised grumbles among the membership, mainly because of its size and timing eachyeat. This year we decided to integrate the gratuity
payment with the fee reductions so that members will not be asked to pay more during the holiday season. Fortunately, this Year the Lunar
Until the new Club is fullY operational for several months, we really will not know whether the new menu, the new fee schedule, the new facilities, and the new location will be successful. Our planning has been done with budgets that contain manY variables, and a few unknowns. But we are confident that we are close to the formula we need to run a successful and financially sound Club. We may need to make some changes later but we hope that they will be small. And painless. We have a new, exPerienced manager to run the Club who has been through all the pains of the relocation over the last six months. We must rely on him in the coming years to present the quality and quantity of food and drink you expect, and to maintain the atmosphere and standard of operation you require. The ultimate success of our Club will depend on the membership who use and enjoy the Club.
BILL SEITZ
GRACI{SIN
The new legislation Prohibits publication of "obscene, indecent and baseless" news repofts in the state of Bihar. The disquiet of the newsmen was that faceless pubiic servants and politicians w¡th something to hide were the people who were going to decide on infringements of the law. Penalties for reporters and editors who didn't toe the line called for jail terms
of up to two years. Naturally enough, the scribes were somewhat Perturbed bY these
archaic limits on press freedom. But when 500 of them went to see the state governor, they were confronted by a small army of policemen who promptly proceeded to bludgeon the journos into bloodY insensibility with long lathis, the leadweighted batons of the lndian riot pol i ce.
Such was the Price of Protest! And under the new law, theY'll probably go to jail if they write about
it.
PI.AYIITGITSAfE St+xpAnU
ffi
fldlnm rt¡dr'ß f(,ñ d,Ðr llrcn .¡flc 0,,ntcrrli of ¡2(t s¡lc dep.Fit lxtr(*
TRONGROOMI ANED OUT
STRONGROOM CTEANED OUT
I'crr¡ slrikc off
NOW YOU SEE IT
NOW YOU DON'T
There it was on the front Page of London's evening paper, The Standard, an advertisement for safety deposit boxes that boasted of their strong security value. Unfortunately, the banner headline above the advertisement did not tell quite the same story because robbers (who apparently do not believe
everything they read in the papers) had scooped the pool in a bank safety deposit room. They got awaY with more than the Great Train Robbers. But by the time the second edition of the paper hit the streets, the
PRESST.RDDINIM
HOUT TO
Those Hongkong journalists who sometimes complain about tight-lipped public servants should consider the manner in which newsmen are treated
l.l
advertisement had disaPPeared.
IINIDTHD
sil
elsewhere.
Take the lndian state of Bihar, for instance, where wayward repofters
The address is:
who irritate officials are chastised with slightly more vigour. A couple of weeks ago, a group of journalists staged a protest march through the streets of the state capital of Patna to make plain their
2Lowe¡ Albert Road (Corner of Wyndham Street,
opposition to a law aimed at censoring the press.
ns
union clrims viclor¡'
Foreign Correspondents' Club
Cut out the card and
stick it in your wallet.
Old Dairy Farm Building) Telephone 5-211511
FCG
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