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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
uncontrolled areas. In the demonstration areas every hawker has the same chance of getting the best pitch and everyone knows what he may and may not do.
In the uncontrolled areas the best sites go to the strongest and few of the hawkers are quite sure whether they are breaking the law or not, or if anyone will take any action against them."
MR. SALES—Mr. Chairman, may I put a supplementary question. I have no desire to emulate Mr. Cheong-Leen so I shall put a supplementary question this time.
Would you say, Sir, that these new arrangements are a decided improvement for the hawkers generally?
CHAIRMAN:—Yes sir.
MR. SALES :—Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, are you not out of order under Standing Order 8 Article 11 in answering my question?
CHAIRMAN:—In what respect, Mr. Sales?
MR. SALES:—You expressed an opinion, Sir.
CHAIRMAN:—I think the Standing Order deals rather with whether the question is in order than with the answer. I am not of opinion that my reply was out of order.
MR. SALES—Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I enjoyed the exercise.
MOTIONS.
THE CHAIRMAN moved:—
That this Council accepts the Hawker Report, 1957, and recommends to the Government that the proposals contained therein should be approved and put into effect."
He said:
In presenting this report for Council's consideration I do not propose to speak at length about its contents. The principles we propose to follow are clearly set out, and so are the methods. The staff required are listed, not in precise detail, for the details can be worked out only in the light of experience, but in general terms; and a general indication of the probable cost is also given. Members will no doubt weigh carefully this proposed expenditure against the benefits which we hope will follow.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
There is, however, one feature of these proposals to which I would invite special attention today, namely, the proposal to engage special staff, as a part of the Urban Services Department, for the sole purpose of exercising control over hawkers and their customers, in the interests of all. This is the feature which most clearly distinguishes the proposals now before Council from others which have been put forward in the past. The report envisages that the Council would be served by a trained, uniformed and disciplined staff operating wherever the hawkers congregate. Much thought has been given to this and there has been much discussion with the Police. It would have been possible to incorporate a force on these lines into the Police Force, but the Commissioner of Police is of opinion that in this field the enforcement of the Council's by-laws and the control of street traders licensed by the Council should be the responsibility of Urban Services Department staff; and this view is accepted and reflected in the report.
I should say now that if I am authorized to implement these proposals I intend to proceed cautiously and perhaps more slowly than some members might wish. There are difficulties and pitfalls to which it would be most unwise for us to shut our eyes. The problems of recruitment, training and organization will require to be handled with the greatest care. My ultimate aim would be to create a force which would yield nothing in smartness, discipline and efficiency to the Hong Kong Police Force, and I think we should now make up our minds to be satisfied with no less than this.
Within the limits of our present staff and other resources and with the help and co-operation of the Police, we have set out to prove, in certain areas now known as demonstration areas, that the methods proposed in the report are workable. I will not describe these experiments, for Council and the public have been made aware of these matters by means of our recent monthly reports. I would, however, draw Members' attention to the photographs in Appendix II of the report tabled to-day which show not only the dramatic change in the appearance of Yu Chau Street last July, but show also that the situation today, after a lapse of seven months, is as good as it was the day after the
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