JONATHAN Braude's From the Corridors column often provides an irreverent and amusing perspective of the machinery of government.
Gaining entertainment from occasional and apparently unreasonable bureaucratic procedures is a valid exercise and, believe it or not, one which the majority of caring civil servants value.
However, in his column (South China Morning Post, November 18) he relates the story of an unnamed water-user who wished to discover the value of the Water Supplies Department's assets by reading the operating accounts. In a piece replete with water supply analogies, he refers to the flow of information drying up and claims that the accounts were restricted and not generally available.
While this was true years ago, the supply of information has been turned on for some time. The only two conditions are that anyone who is interested visits the Government Publications Centre and hands over $36. In return, he will receive a full set of operating accounts for all government utilities including the Water Supplies Department.