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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
QUESTIONS.
MR. LI YIU BOR asked the following question
"Further to the question raised by me at the meeting of March, 1957, concerning fire victims in the streets of Shamshuipo, will the Chairman ask the Commissioner for Resettlement whether or not these fire victims have been resettled? If not, will the Commissioner for Resettlement indicate the date before which they can be resettled without adversely affecting our present policy? I fully appreciate the engineering and other difficulties in the construction of resettlement blocks, but I should like to point out that some of these fire victims have been in the streets of Shamshuipo for three and a half years."
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply by the Commissioner for Resettlement :-
"3,564 of the persons made homeless in the Taipo Road squatter fire have now been resettled, and 1,693 remain in huts on the streets of Shamshuipo.
It had been anticipated that these persons would be resettled by the end of December, 1957, but unfortunately site formation and piling difficulties have slowed down the rate of construction of multi-storey resettlement blocks. Arrangements are however now being made for their resettlement within the next six weeks."
MR. LI:-May I ask you to be good enough to convey my thanks to Mr. Walton for a very good reply?
CHAIRMAN ---I should be very happy to do so, Mr. Li.
MR. LI YIU BOR asked the following question :--
"Is the Chairman aware that many approved fixed-pitch sites on the list are not wanted by hawkers because very little business can be done on them? Will he consider cancelling some unpopular sites and placing, with the co-operation of the Police Department, better sites on the list ?"
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply :--
"Yes Sir, to both parts of your Question. You will find this matter dealt with on page 27 of the 1957 Hawker Report and there is nothing I can usefully add."
MR. A. DE O. SALES asked the following question
"(a) In the vicinity of which markets has the Council now introduced the measures which were first put into effect at Shamshuipo?
(b) How soon will this system of control be in force in all market areas in which they are necessary?
(c) Have the arrangements been carefully explained to the hawkers in advance?
(d) Has it been made clear to them that these measures are taken to protect their own interests as well?"
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply :
"(a) The arrangements to which you refer were first put into effect at Yaumati Market (1st November, 1957), then Shek Tong Tsui Market (6th November, 1957), finally Shamshuipo Market (8th January, 1958). Similar arrangements are in force at Tong Shui Road and Tai Hang Tung Resettlement Estate where there are no public markets, but where hawker problems caused by the presence of food shops are similar.
(b) You asked the same question at the February Meeting and the only thing I can add to part (b) of the Chairman's reply to Question No. 3 in the Order Paper for the Meeting of Council held on 4th February, 1958, is that the Hawker Report, having been accepted by Council, has now been forwarded to Government.
(c) Yes Sir. The period of propaganda lasts two weeks. Since many of the hawkers are illiterate, explanation by pamphlet is supplemented by talks to individual hawkers and broadcasts from a loudspeaker van.
(d) ...
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