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MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Why not, Mr. Chairman? Many Government servants are active in such non-government bodies. (Laughter).
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:
(a) A local newspaper has recently stated that "Keep Your City Clean might be a slogan on another planet for all that Hong Kong residents seem to bother about it". Will the Chairman state whether this is generally true in Hong Kong, and whether there has been any noticeable improvement in recent years since the Keep Your City Clean campaign was first inaugurated?
(b) The newspaper also claimed that Gage Street in Central District is a street "where ground floor residents come out of their doors about once every hour to sweep the dirt and rubbish, thrown down from above or by passersby, into the middle of the road". Is this true, and if so, what can the Urban Services Department do to ameliorate this situation?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
The "Keep Your City Clean Campaign" began in August 1959 and is still continuing. It is difficult to assess whether there has been an improvement in the cleanliness of the City as a result of this campaign. I think the position is still covered by the answer to a similar question in November last year when the Chairman said that "judging by the continued prevalence of litter in our streets I do not think it is possible to demonstrate that the campaign has so far achieved substantial results, but I think the position might have been much worse if there had been no campaign".
My own view is that the situation is being held in check, and that no general deterioration is apparent. The position must be viewed in the context of our rapidly increasing population, a refuse output rising at the rate of some 12% per year, and an influx over the years of persons unused to the ways of city life.
Making people "anti-litter" conscious is a slow business, and like other aspects of health education it is a problem of causing people of their own accord to want to live in cleaner and more healthy surroundings. To this end the "Keep Your City Clean" and "Anti-litter" campaigns make their contribution.
The latter part of your question, Sir, concerns conditions at Gage Street. Gage Street is lined on both sides by fixed pitch hawkers, and it is from their stalls that the refuse originates rather than from the ground floor residents. Such accumulations do not remain long, as the beat sweeper works through the area eight times a day. An inspection has been made, and it was noted that there was only one large refuse bin in the area available to the hawkers for disposal of their refuse, and this was full to overflowing. It is intended to increase the number of large refuse bins provided.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, I would like to clarify one point. In part (b) of my original question I said that refuse was being thrown down from some of the floors above and did not come from the ground floors. Could I ask you whether from observations made by the Departmental staff it was found that no refuse was thrown down from any of the upper floors?
CHAIRMAN:- The answer to that, Sir, is that none was reported to me as having been observed coming from the upper floors.
MR. CHEUNG WING-IN asked the following question:
Is this Council aware that a fair amount of refuse is being washed away from the dump at Gin Drinker's Bay and that such refuse is contaminating the public beaches from 10-mile beach up to the beaches at Castle Peak including Ting Kau and Tsing Lung Tau? What measures (if any) are being taken or contemplated to prevent such nuisance which is highly injurious to the health of the bathers in summer months by reason of its pollution? In the event that the Department already has plans to abate such nuisance what further steps are required to prevent the escape of refuse from the dump during typhoon or inclement weather?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
My replies to Dr. LEE today have largely covered this question. I would add with regard to the latter part of the question that it is not possible to take any special precautions at the Gin Drinker's Bay dump to prevent the escape of refuse during a typhoon, other than those I have already outlined. The effects of a typhoon at the dump are quite unpredictable, as so much depends on its direction and
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