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COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: My Department does not supply water, Mr. Chairman. (Laughter). I suggest that the Member's question be addressed to the Director of Public Works. (Laughter).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: - so address it, Mr. Chairman.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -I do not think that it is intended to charge but I have not looked into it. May I point out in clarification, Mr. Chairman, that it has been possible to locate a suitable pump at Lantau which has been brought over. It is a Government pump, (Laughter) so it should be possible to get the Government water supply going in a few weeks' time, say, three to five weeks.
MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:
(a) Could a clear statement be given as to whether or not pedlar hawkers are being cleared from the streets to provide free or metered parking spaces for motor-cars? (b) Would it be true to say that pedlar hawkers are suffering the loss of their pitches because of lack of foresight in planning suitable marketing centres and/or car parks?
(c) Would the Council be prepared to consider marking out small pitches for pedlar hawkers in areas likely to be patronised by shoppers, until such time as major plans for hawkers and markets can be decided upon?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:-
I am not aware of any streets being cleared of recognized groups of licensed pedlar hawkers expressly for the purpose of providing free or metered parking spaces.
The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative.
The answer to the third part of the question is that the Council has often in the past exercised its powers under the Hawker By-laws by marking out small pitches for pedlar hawkers. The desirability or otherwise of extending this practice is now under consideration by the Hawkers Select Committee.
MR. BERNACCHI : -Mr. Chairman, may I have your permission to supplement the answer that you have given?
CHAIRMAN: -Gladly.
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MR. BERNACCHI: -In the first place the Hawkers Select Committee has received an assurance from the representative of the Commissioner of Police that streets will not be cleared of licensed hawkers for the purpose of installing metered or other car parks. As a supplement to the third part, the Hawkers Select Committee is not only going into the desirability or otherwise of extending the practice of marking out small pitches, but it is also going into the desirability of providing barrows for licensed hawkers which will, if finally adopted and agreed to, be of the same nature as the fixed pitch stalls.
MRS. ELLIOTT: -Mr. Chairman, may I ask the Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee, through you, if he is aware that in Sai Yeung Choi Street and other streets in the adjoining areas, parking meters have already been installed where formerly there were hawkers?
MR. BERNACCHI: -I am not so aware and I will take the matter up immediately with the Commissioner of Police.
MRS. ELLIOTT: -I would like to ask another supplementary question, Mr. Chairman. May I ask if you would be kind enough to investigate whether the hawker obstructions in Nga Tsin Wai Road have been replaced by car obstructions?
CHAIRMAN: -I understand that when the hawkers in Nga Tsin Wai Road were cleared it was intended to prohibit parking in the street. I also understand that at the moment the street is usually lined with motor vehicles. The Department is looking into this matter.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, is it not true that hawkers in the vicinity of Nga Tsin Wai Road have been put on wheels? Would you ask the Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee to answer that, Mr. Chairman, if you are unable to do so?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -Mr. Chairman, may I ask in clarification : Is it hawkers or their paraphernalia?
MR. SALES: -Would the Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee like to answer my supplementary question?
MR. BERNACCHI: -Perhaps I should myself ask for clarification from my friend, Mr. SALES, as to what he means by "put on wheels"? Does he mean the sort of wheels that I mentioned in my supplementary answer to the original question or does he mean literally on wheels that can be dragged about the streets?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I do not know whether the Hawkers Select Committee classify these hawker stalls as barrows, but certainly on two occasions when I carried out a private inspection of that area, one of which was with the Assistant Commissioner of Police in
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