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A visitor to the streets of the densely populated areas in Hong Kong will at once be repulsed by the filth and stink found there. One cannot help wondering whether the streets are swept at least once a day as assured by the Urban Services Department. The recent shortage of cleansing labourers has made the accumulation of refuse more serious in many areas. As a member of this Council, I am often confronted with inquiries from members of the public as to when these heaps of refuse are to be removed, and it makes me very frustrated that I cannot give them an answer, for as long as Government refuses to revise the salary scales for these labourers there is no likelihood that the situation could be improved.
Members may recollect that I did warn the Council in the conventional debate in December last year about the effect of the low wages for the low-grade staff of the Urban Services Department. It does not take much thought to realize that an average family of five persons cannot live on a monthly salary of $128 even with a cost of living allowance, especially if there are children in the family for whom education has to be provided. It would require at least $300 a month, yet according to the present salary scale, a labourer has to remain in Government service for thirty-two years before he can reach this point. This is absurd. In spite of the small increase of $20, making a total of $148, this sum is still insufficient for a labourer to meet his family budget. How could the Government officials in charge of salaries revision have the conscience to suggest such a ridiculously low salary scale for labourers who do the heavy work of keeping our city clean every day when they know that their domestic servants have to be paid $300 a month? Now that the filthy state of our streets has become so serious, there must be no delay in introducing a more attractive salary scale for these labourers—it is not fair for our residents to have to put up with dirt and filth in the streets for an indefinite period, and it must also be remembered that the heaps of refuse on the streets not only give rise to unpleasant smells, but may also lead to epidemics.
Mr. Chairman, when you answered my supplementary question at the last meeting, you mentioned that if you failed to get manpower to cleanse the streets you had other plans ready. As the streets in many of the densely populated areas in Hong Kong are in very insanitary condition and as there is no promise of an immediate increase of manpower, may I advise that you start putting the plans you have envisaged into practice at once?
Mr. SOLOMON RAFEEK:- Mr. Chairman, in rising to support the motion proposed by Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, and seconded by Dr. Woo, I would like to say a few words thereon. I feel strongly that Government should raise the wages of the cleansing labourers and others charged with keeping our city clean and hygienic, commensurate with their arduous duties and in keeping with the rise in the cost of living. If we are not to lose more men from the already much depleted number in the Cleansing Division of the Urban Services Department, we must take immediate and drastic action to increase the low wages of our cleansing labourers, otherwise the health of the people will be seriously threatened.
With these few words, I have great pleasure in supporting the motion.
MR. WILFRED WONG: Mr. Chairman, I would like to say a few words in support of this motion and to quote the first sentence of it, "That this Council continue to be concerned over the insanitary and filthy state of our streets." I think the last few sentences have already been adequately covered—again to quote them, "resulting primarily from the fact that sufficient cleansing labourers are not available…"
I would like to add that the condition of some of the roads is far from satisfactory because there seems to be a lack of effort on the part of the Roads Office in surfacing the roads. We have heard in the early part of the meeting about the decking of the Bowrington nullah and I think there is a statement to the effect that the Bowrington nullah area is from Hennessy Road to Leighton Road. Recently, I have had occasion to visit the hawkers in that area and I followed the whole nullah, and I think the Chairman of the Canal Road Kaifong Association will bear me out that the filthy stretch is from Hennessy Road to Gloucester Road. That section of the nullah has been decked for 5 months and it has not yet been surfaced, with the result that the area, which is six inches lower than the road surface, is full of flies, mosquitoes, dead rats and refuse. On a matter concerning public health I would certainly suggest that the Urban Services Department maintain very close liaison with the Roads Office. I could not possibly see that with some schemes in mind for hawker bazaars, sitting-out areas and children's playgrounds in an area south of Hennessy Road, we could allow another stretch of 280 yards to become a refuse dump. People living in the same area in the east end of Jaffe Road have also reported that the road has not been surfaced for the last six months and that it has become an area of mud, slime and refuse. Dirt or dirtiness can be contagious when it is not covered. Somebody throws refuse into a place and other people follow. These are two definite instances that I know.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI:- Mr. Chairman, perhaps as the last speaker has taken the first part of the motion I should take the last part "and urge Government to urgently take remedial action." Now, I think that we should acknowledge that remedial action cannot be confined to raising the wages of the labourers of the Urban Services Department. Remedial action must be the raising of the wages of the
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