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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN: --Before we proceed with the agenda, I am sure Members would wish me to welcome on their behalf the Members who have been re-elected and a special and hearty welcome to Mr. Ernest Wong who has a fine record of service in other fields and who takes his seat with us today for the first time.
MR. FUNG PING FAN:-It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, to endorse the remarks of welcome you have extended to our old colleagues who have been successful in their recent re-election, and to our new friend Mr. Ernest C. Wong whose addition to this Council will help to increase its efficiency.
It is good to see our old friends back among us, as their past achievements have won for them the confidence of the electorate who have returned them to office.
As regards our new colleague, Mr. Ernest Wong has already shown himself a civic-minded citizen by the services he has rendered to various causes.
With his energetic keenness to serve, and his experience of public affairs, he can make some useful contributions to our deliberations, and I wish him every success and happiness.
MINUTES.
The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 2nd March, 1959, were confirmed.
PAPERS.
THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following papers:
(1) Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban Services Department for the month of March, 1959.
(2) Statement of Progress and Policy.
QUESTIONS.
DR. P. F. Woo, with the permission of the Chairman, asked the following questions standing in the name of Mr. H. Cheong-leen :-
"Residents of the resettlement estates have suggested that sanitation there could be improved if the walls of communal toilets could be partially lined with tiles; would the Commissioner for Resettlement support this suggestion?"
"Residents of the resettlement estates have expressed the view that the general health of the resettlement population would greatly improve if existing and future estate blocks should have communal kitchens; has the Commissioner for Resettlement looked into this possibility?"
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:
"At present the walls of the communal toilets in resettlement estates are covered with rubberized paint over cement rendering. This gives a hard, smooth, protective surface from wall to wall.
If tiles were to be installed I am informed that the initial cost would add some $40,000 to the cost of each block and their maintenance would be equally expensive. Tiles are easily chipped and it would be difficult to prevent their being stolen.
It is considered that the present finish gives at least as good a surface as tiles, and it is considerably cheaper."
MR. SALES: -A question of interest, Mr. Chairman. Where is Mr. Cheong-Leen? May I know?
CHAIRMAN:-Dr. Woo had permission to ask that question.
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows: ---
"If communal kitchens are to be installed in the estates a fairly substantial amount of resettlement accommodation would have to be given up in order to make room for them, and special chimneys would have to be installed. This would not only reduce the number of people we can resettle but it would also increase the cost per capita of resettlement and might lead to higher rents.
Moreover as settlers would have to carry with them to the communal kitchens all their food, fuel and cooking utensils, I am not sure that all of them would welcome the innovation."
MR. Y. K. KAN asked the following question:
"I understand from the newspaper reports that improvement will soon be made to the concourse outside the Yau Ma Tei Vehicular Ferry on both sides of the harbour. Will this Council take the opportunity, with the assistance of the Police and the Ferry Company, to exercise better control over hawkers in this area who have for a long time been pestering members of the public using the vehicular ferries?"
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