HEALTH
161
Section's work is rodent control, and during the year 315,796 rodents (including those placed by the public in rat-bins) were collected.
NEW TERRITORIES
Responsibility for public health in the New Territories is shared between the Director of Urban Services, the District Commissioner and the Principal Medical Officer of Health, New Territories. The Director of Urban Services is responsible for public cleansing, markets and hawker areas, public latrines and bathhouses, and also for cemeteries, public parks, playgrounds and beaches. The District Commissioner is the licensing authority for premises used for the processing and sale of food for human consumption, hawkers, private markets, slaughterhouses and offensive trades. He exercises these functions on the advice of the Director of Urban Services.
The Principal Medical Officer of Health, New Territories, acts as adviser to the Director of Urban Services on health matters affecting the New Territories, and exercises day-to-day supervision over certain staff of the Urban Services Department. He is also responsible to the Director of Medical and Health Services for most hospital, clinic and other medical facilities in the New Territories.
The Urban Services Department carries out regular street- sweeping and refuse collections in the New Territories townships, and during the year these were again extended to cover more of the rural areas served by road. All bulk refuse collected by vehicle is disposed of by controlled tipping, either at the main dump at Gin Drinker's Bay, or at one of two smaller dumps at Au Tau near Yuen Long and Shuen Wan near Tai Po. Where vehicles cannot be used the refuse is burned on the spot. Public latrines and bathhouses are limited to a few townships, but temporary latrine units have been provided for a number of villages. Steady progress is being made with the construction of public latrines, bathhouses, markets and hawker bazaars in all the larger centres of population.
In addition to his other responsibilities the Principal Medical Officer of Health, New Territories, is charged with developing health services on the islands and in other rural areas away from the main roads where the Urban Services Department cannot