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careful note of them and to co-operate with the Council in their implementation. There should be no further fear of "obstruction, blocking, shelving, delay, etc." and there is certainly no justification to pay anything to anybody over and above the licence fee.
A few words about hawkers. Mr. BERNACCHI, in his speech in this Council on the occasion of the adoption of the Hawkers Report two years ago, mentioned two schools of thought on the problem of hawking; one which feels that, and I quote, "hawkers are after all only trying to earn an honest living and should be given a completely free hand to carry on their trade without serious interference from the Council"; and the other which, again I quote, "considers that large scale hawking is incongruous and outmoded in the streets of a big modern city, that hawking particularly of foodstuffs whether cooked or uncooked is dangerous to the health of the community, and that the only real solution is total abolition".
Now, I must openly confess that I do definitely belong to the second school of thought, though I do not advocate and have never, in my three years on the Hawkers Select Committee, advocated the total abolition of hawking.
Today there are no less than 24,000 licensed hawkers, and to this number must be added many more thousands who are unlicensed. They infest all our backstreets and alleyways and create a serious traffic problem and a danger to health. These people are not all old and infirm; many of them are young and able-bodied persons who prefer to make an easy living rather than work in the fields or in the factories. There might have been some justification for this state of affairs to exist at the time when there was a sudden influx of refugees and jobs were hard to come by. Today when our rapidly growing industries are facing a most acute shortage of skilled and unskilled labour it is utterly incongruous, to use Mr. BERNACCHI's word, to allow so much useful man-power wasted in what is after all an unproductive occupation.
Since the Hawkers Report, this Council has adopted the policy of not issuing licences for fixed pitch and cooked food stalls except on welfare grounds. The tremendous development now going on in the urban area makes it more and more difficult to find sites even for those who are considered deserving. I suggest that in line with our existing policy we should gradually reduce the number of hawkers and at the same time weed out those who can earn their living in a more useful manner. This may be a formidable task but given time and determination I feel sure we can do it.
Members will recollect that in September last a sub-committee appointed by this Council considered and submitted a memorandum on the Traffic Advisory Committee in which it is recommended that a Highway Authority be established for the purpose of overall planning and development on all matters concerning traffic and that this Council should be represented on this Authority. This recommendation has received your full support and a copy of the memorandum has been forwarded to Government. It is now learned that a committee appointed by Government has been considering the desirability to set up some such body and will shortly present its report to Government. For the time being we have to be content with our representation on the Traffic Advisory Committee which despite its limited scope is performing a useful function under the able chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner of Police. I am indeed honoured that members have asked me to serve again as their representative on this Committee for the ensuing year. I am sure I can count on your continued support and encouragement and on my part I promise you I will do my best to represent your interest on this Committee.
Finally car park charges. At present the scale of charges for parking in the two multi-storey car parks are 50 cents for 24 hours, $1.00 for 5 hours, $1.50 for 7 hours, $2.00 for 10 hours and so on; whereas metered car parks out on the roads charge a flat rate of 50 cents for 2 hours. In other words it is cheaper to park your car in the covered car parks than on the road. I do not understand the logic of this discrepancy. It seems to me that at least there should be a uniform charge for both types of car parks; whether to bring one up or the other down is a matter for the appropriate Select Committee to consider.
I have much pleasure in supporting the motion.
MR. J. L. MARDEN: -Mr. Chairman, I rise to support your motion on this the first occasion I have had of addressing the Council, and it is with some trepidation that I continue by saying a few words on subjects which others are far better qualified.
It was said by Napoleon that the English were a nation of shopkeepers and in the same vein it could well be said that Hong Kong is a "nation" of hawkers. From the Estimates it can be seen that over $1,000,000 per annum is raised from Hawkers Licences alone. This, as my colleague has said, represents over 20,000 licences, 9,500 in Hong Kong and 11,200 in Kowloon, apart from a considerable number of unlicensed hawkers. On this latter subject through the co-operation between the staff of the Council and the Police Force, especially in Kowloon where the problem of unlicensed hawkers is far greater, the numbers have been steadily reduced; not by arrests, but by orderly rearrangement and as a result over 5,000 new peddler licences have been issued in Kowloon since the beginning of the year.
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