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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, Mr. Hu asked a supplemen- tary so therefore it must be answered...
CHAIRMAN: ---Could you get to the question please.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I am trying to answer Mr. Hu, as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee. I would like to finish off what I was going to say that this could be done when we get the additional staff, because it is very desirable that we do take these urgently needed steps to bring about more order in hawker matters in resettlement estates in order to improve the living environment of people there.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, as this is Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's swan song as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee you should have shown him some latitude. (Laughter).
MR. HU:-Yes, Mr. Chairman, I just want to ask you one ques- tion, or ask Mr. CHEONG-LEEN. Are you aware, Mr. Chairman, that in the resettlement estates the hawkers are now controlled by the tidiness teams in the resettlement estates instead of anyone else?
CHAIRMAN:-Indeed I am, Mr. Hu. I asked the Resettlement Department to obtain these teams to prevent, first of all, the new estates from deteriorating and to do what it could to help generally in this
matter.
COMMISSIONer for ReseTTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to put on record that the tidiness teams were employed to clear obstruc- tions, not to control hawkers. The hawker control is the responsibility of the Urban Council, and the executive arm of the Urban Council is the Urban Services Department.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, can I ask for clarification whether you as Director of Urban Services and the Commissioner for Resettlement are trying to prove today that you are cooperating closely with each other, or that you don't want to co-operate closely with each other?
Mrs. Elliott:-Mr. Chairman, I suppose the tidiness teams are not empowered to use the crow bars for hitting hawkers as I saw them doing last week?
CHAIRMAN: ---The question is out of order, Mrs. ELLIOTT.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, are crow bars standard equipment for tidiness teams?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, might I, as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee, answer the supplementary question Mr. Hu has in mind, because I do believe he is very much concerned