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MR. B. A. BERNACCHI :-Mr. Chairman, I open this debate as the first speaker for the Elected Members.
We all know, of course, that the Statement of Aims for 1965 will be passed unanimously. In fact, I will let the public into a little secret. It has already been discussed in Standing Committee of the Whole Council, and amendments were made at the request of individual Councillors to ensure that there is nothing in the Statement of Aims that any individual Councillor is unable to support. Nevertheless, this motion of yours, Mr. Chairman, that the Statement of Aims be endorsed, has by convention been regarded as an excuse for talking on all or any subjects, like the motion for an adjournment in the House of Commons in London.
I myself am Chairman of the City Hall Select Committee, the Hawkers Select Committee and the Standing Orders and Procedure Select Committee for this year and I feel that it is my duty first to give a brief report about these select committees.
The City Hall is doing fine. Public opinion which once questioned the advisability of building a City Hall now takes the view "How did we manage when we did not have a City Hall?" and all facets of the City Hall are fully used so much so that there is a move to have some decentralization of some of the facilities in different parts of the urban areas.
The problem of hawkers will always be with us. We have to be firm on occasions as we were in the early part of this year with the situation in Jardine's Bazaar. But at all times we must remember that we license the hawkers and they are entitled to expect from us reasonable protection in earning their lawful living. I particularly like Aim 24 "to achieve compliance with the law by means of education and persuasion in preference to legal action”, and Aim 25 "to continue to foster good relations between the hawkers and the Hawker Control Force and other members of the Urban Services Department staff". I call upon all members of the Hawker Control Force to appreciate that they are not policemen and that it is their primary duty to achieve compliance with the law by peaceful persuasion in preference to force and legal action. I am also happy to announce that a better liaison has been achieved between the Police Force and the Council in hawker matters to the benefit both of the members of the public and of the hawkers themselves.
The Standing Orders and Procedure Select Committee were delegated during the course of the year to consider Electoral reform generally and we had quite a number of meetings resulting in an interim report which was the subject of a successful motion before this Council recently. Whether or not anything is done, as it should be done, to improve and enlarge the Register for next year, the Government has now promised a high-powered Working Party on Electoral Reform which I consider relieves my Committee of any further obligation in the matter. I am very glad to hear from the lips of the Chairman that His Excellency the Governor has agreed to appoint the Working Party because in fact, most Working Parties' recommendations are accepted by the Government but I urge His Excellency the Governor to get on with the job of appointing the same.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Dealing with some of the Select Committees that I can comment on from afar, I am glad to see paragraph 27 of the Aims and Objects is to complete the review of the future market policy. Whatever the pros and cons of new markets in central areas are, I consider that meat and fish markets are essential in outlying areas or in any area in which the number of shops is limited. I am very pleased to note that the new abattoir will start functioning in 1966, the abattoir situation has been on the shelf and on the planning board for far too long. When I came on this Council in 1952, this Council in Committee was presented with a plan for a new abattoir and yet no new abattoir has as yet been built. If anyone goes down to the existing Kennedy Town abattoir, and especially inside the abattoir, they will be so horrified at the conditions there that I can almost guarantee it will be a long time before they touch a scrap of meat again. (Laughter). All life is valuable and if human life has to kill to exist, let the killing be done cleanly, quickly and efficiently.
There have been innumerable complaints that the streets and harbour are littered with garbage. I should like consideration to be given to the use of municipal composting. I realize that there are snags but the largest, water, will, I hope, soon be plentiful. The advantages are considerable. We get rid of the rubbish without wasting it or dumping it and, in turn, the barren hillside land is turned into cultivatable terraces. There is considerable literature on this subject. Has the Urban Council even got one book? I also recommend commercial firms should be consulted.
For the last part of my address, I exercise the right to talk on subjects which the Urban Council either has not got control of or has not sufficient control over. I mean housing, education, medical services and the cost of living. These are problems of the man in the street and if this Council wants to, as it must, keep in touch with the problems of the man in the street, it must deal urgently with paragraph 37 of the Aims and Objects, continuing to press for the enlargement of the Council's scope.
The squatter in his squatter hut is most uncomfortable but at least he is settled in. The people who are suffering the most hardship in regard to housing are people evicted from buildings either because they
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