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one occasion, a friend of mine, who is himself a very good swimmer, swam to the aid of a child and he told me subsequently that he was most impressed with the action of the guards at Deep Water Bay beach. They were admirable in the way they came immediately to the rescue of the child. They did not give up hope despite the fact that the child was evidently dead, and he was certainly eager to give full marks to the staff working there. I was very pleased to have this independent opinion.
MR. HU:-Would it be preferable for motors to be fitted to the life-saving boats at Deep Water Bay and Shek O as a trial?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I have given this matter some thought. In fact, motorising catamarans was a suggestion I made some 7 years ago in order to sweep the waters off the beaches, to eliminate refuse. Now I do not think that motorising the catamarans would make an appreciable difference in the fatalities. It is the foolhardiness of the people and very often the complete lack of care on the part of parents leaving children on the beaches children who do not know how to swim. In one particular instance, I was told a man took four children to the beach-four children who did not know how to swim and he himself was not much better. He left the children to their own devices in consequence of which one child drowned at Deep Water Bay. Our population is approaching 4 million and with the easily accessible beaches it is reasonable to expect that a great number of people in the summer will make use of these beaches so the number of fatalities must rise in relation to the total number of beach-users. No matter how good a swimmer a person may be, that in itself does not eliminate the possibility of his drowning. This is a point that must be emphasized and, no matter how much care we may take we will not eliminate this altogether. We will only reduce the incidence of fatalities by early rescue and giving prompt attention to the people in distress.
MR. HU: Mr. SALES, thank you. Mr. SALES' view is against the installations of such motors. Is that because of the expense which would be incurred?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I am not against the installation of motors. I myself was in favour of it. In fact, I was very upset at the time when we could not buy these outboard motors for catamarans because Government would not pay for them. The money had to come out of a different vote-this was several years ago-and not out of the Urban Amenities Block Vote. I remember that very clearly. So if the department thinks it is worthwhile to carry out an experiment at any single beach, I am sure the people would be more than pleased to support it.
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CHAIRMAN: --May I point out that I usually send for the reports on these fatalities, and I sent for the recent ones at Deep Water Bay, just to see if the department was in any way lax. In two cases which occurred there this year, one was a young man who was swimming near the raft and sank. He was seen by a large number of people going under and many people dived in to help him, but the water was very deep where he sank and they could not find him. It took two hours to find him and get him out. In this case, the existence of a motor launch would have made no difference. The other case was precisely the same. It was difficult to find the person after he had sunk under the water; time and time again they tried to find him.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, very recently, I read in a newspaper that a person of about 40 years of age died at Shek O Beach. I do not know the reason for this, but it might have been of some help if our life-saving boats were equipped with motors. This I believe, so I would ask the Council to consider experimenting at one or two beaches to see if this is any help in saving the lives of careless swimmers.
MR. SALES: -As I said earlier, the Committee would be pleased to do so. Perhaps at Shek O, which is the example sited by Mr. Hu.
(16) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-
Is the Chairman aware that rubbish is always piled up at the corner of Staunton Street and Chung Wo Lane (P) in huge piles causing much nuisance to the neighbouring schools and cooked-food stalls? Will measures be taken to improve the situation?
DR. R. H. S. LEE, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:
The location referred to is a refuse collection stop serviced twice daily by a refuse collection vehicle, once in the morning at 9 a.m. and once in the afternoon at 2 p.m. The stop is situated in a densely populated part of the town and in a busy hawker area. Approximately 110 baskets of refuse are handled daily.
The supervisory staff have again been instructed to ensure that refuse is not placed at the stop for more than a few minutes prior to the arrival of the vehicle, and the hawkers are being persuaded to provide themselves with containers for refuse which they can bring to the stop on arrival of the vehicle.
I understand that conditions are now improved.
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