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MR. SALES:
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Sir, having regard to the record performance by your Department, with presumably the instigation of the Urban Council, may I offer you our congratulations.
DR. LEE: - Mr. Chairman, of the large figure of 29,500 trees planted, may I know the casualty rate and possibly the mortality rate of these trees after the recent visits of typhoons?
CHAIRMAN: - I do not know the figures offhand, Sir, but I will obtain them for you.
DR. LEE: - Thank you.
(5) MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question:
What progress is being made in the selection of a "national flower" for Hong Kong? Has any preference been indicated by the public?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
This matter was first raised in this Council at the meeting on 4th February this year when it was suggested that it be discussed in the Urban Amenities Select Committee and the Standing Committee of the Whole Council before a recommendation was made to Government. Subsequently, after consultations with the Commerce and Industry and Information Services Departments and the Tourist Association, discussion has taken place on two occasions in the Urban Amenities Select Committee, with examples and slides of a variety of species of local flowers. The Select Committee has made a short list of 5 and the Department has obtained more transparencies of the five plants themselves. These are Rhodoleia championi, Sterculia lanceolata, Bauhinia blakeana or the Hong Kong Orchid Tree, Bauhinia variegata, and Litsea citrata or Willow-leafed Litsea. When the Urban Amenities Select Committee has made its choice in this matter, it will be referred to the Standing Committee of the Whole Council and then a recommendation will be made to Government.
Although the views of the Director of Information Services, of the Hong Kong Tourist Association, and of the Commercial Public Relations Co-ordinating Committee, which were conveyed by the Director of Commerce and Industry, are available, there has so far otherwise been no indication of public preference but views from members of the public would, of course, be welcome.
MR. SALES: - Mr. Chairman, may I thank you for your very comprehensive reply.
(6) MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question:
(a) May this Council know what your Department has done to seal off the refuse dump at Gin Drinkers Bay?
(b) To what extent has the suggestion been carried out that this work be done round the clock?
(c) What co-operation has your Department received from other departments in preventing refuse from this dump and other sources polluting the beaches?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
(a) A report on this matter, which you asked for at the Council meeting last month, is already in the hands of Members. Work on the new earth bund, which will completely seal off the dump from the sea, is proceeding as rapidly as possible. It is expected that the bund will be completed by the end of November. The log boom has now been closed and a 24-hour watch on the boom is maintained by the Marine Department. Control of refuse at the dump has been much improved in consequence.
(b) The construction of the new bund is being undertaken, at the request of my friend the Director of Public Works, by the contractors of the Kwai Chung Reclamation Scheme, Stage II, supervised by the Consulting Engineers, Messrs. Scott & Wilson. The latter have affirmed that it is inadvisable to continue dumping at the bund at night.
(c) The Department is receiving full and valuable co-operation from the Public Works and Marine Departments in controlling the dump and preventing pollution of the beaches. You personally, Sir, visited the dump yesterday, in company with senior officers of these departments and saw what was being done there. It is, I think, evident that further action will have to be taken to prevent indiscriminate dumping of rubbish into the harbour, for example, from ships, reclamation areas, and along the waterfront generally. The Department is paying special attention now to the question of preventing spillage of rubbish at dustboat stations and at the unloading berths at Gin Drinkers Bay.
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