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whether P.W.D. or Public Utility-will result in a general cleaning up, but within hours the state of the job will be as bad as ever.
To try and improve matters in this respect we have, since 1963, given lectures to trenching contractors and their staff, and this attack on the problem is, I think, having some success-but it is a slow, uphill job.
12. The Public Utilities are most co-operative. On each side of the harbour we have in the Public Works Department an Engineer with two Inspectors and five Foremen working full time on the co-ordination of trenching works, liaison with the Public Utilities, and final reinstatement of the road surface. Each month two meetings are held-one on each side of the harbour-under the relevant Chief Engineer. The meeting is attended by senior representatives of the Public Utility Companies, as well as the Police Traffic Department; programmes are prepared, works co-ordinated, and ideas for improvements in procedure discussed. One change in procedure which is to be tried is for the Public Utility Companies themselves to do the permanent road reinstatement instead of leaving it for us to do.
If this change proves successful it should go some way to meet Mr. FUNG's complaint.
13. So far as typhoon shelters are concerned we have made progress on the investigations and designs of the Aldrich Bay shelter, but progress has not yet reached the stage when I can recommend upgrading to Category A of the Public Works Programme. However, we have recently called for tenders for the southern breakwater at Aberdeen and this--in addition to the western breakwater at Aberdeen which is virtually completed, and the shelters at Tai Po and Rambler Channel which are under construction-will provide a considerable increase in the area of protected anchorages available for the boat people, on whose behalf Mr. FORSGATE made so eloquent an appeal.
14. Sir, I beg to support the motion. (Applause).
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: --Mr. Chairman, in rising to support the motion before Council I share, as the official "new-boy" counterpart to Mr. LOBO, some of the diffidence he expressed two weeks ago. Although this diffidence-perhaps I should say trepidation-is enhanced by being sandwiched, to quote Mr. Li Yiu-bor, between speakers of established repute, I gain confidence from the friendly interest and encouragement which all Unofficial Members continue to show in public health matters.
The past year has been in some ways an encouraging one for all those concerned with the maintenance of public health. For the first time in five years we have not experienced a visitation by cholera El Tor, while the continuing "round-the-clock" water supply has been of great assistance in affording opportunities for raising the standard of hygiene, particularly in the preparation of food. However, there is no room for complacency and the statement of aims shows that many varied and difficult tasks in the field of public health still lie ahead of this Council.
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great assistance in affording opportunities for raising the standard of hygiene, particularly in the preparation of food. However, there is no room for complacency and the statement of aims shows that many varied and difficult tasks in the field of public health still lie ahead of this Council.
Mr. Li Yiu-bor commented on the urgent need for hospital beds with particular reference to Kowloon and, if I may, Sir, I would like to speak in rather general terms on this subject as, although the development of medical services does not lie within the jurisdiction of this Council, it is a matter of widespread general interest. Mr. Li agrees that the need is still great but I feel that I must set the record straight. In the past fifteen years the population of Hong Kong has not quite doubled; however in the same period the number of hospital beds has tripled from a figure of approximately 4,000 in 1950 to one of just over 12,000 this year. This building programme has therefore provided somewhat over two beds for every thousand of our present population and in such terms represents an achievement which I believe cannot be matched elsewhere in the world. The acceptance early last year of the White Paper on Development of Medical Services in Hong Kong gave a further impetus to the development programme, and the first report of the Medical Development Plan Standing Committee, published earlier this year show a carefully-planned expansion of such services, with a further 4,000 beds being expected to become available within the next three to four years and a detailed programme already in hand for the four years thereafter.
Turning to Mrs. ELLIOTT's charge that the regulations governing permitted numbers in schools are enforced too rigidly, I am informed that the Director of Education, after consultation with the Director of Medical and Health Services, has exhaustively discussed the question of permitted numbers in school classrooms with the Private Schools Advisory Committee, the government departments concerned and with the Board of Education. Proposals have been put forward by the Director of Education and of Medical and Health Services which will have the effect, among other things, of permitting larger numbers of pupils to be enrolled in schools operating in adapted premises. Pending amendments to the regulations under the Education Ordinance, the Director of Education will continue to waive or modify the regulations in respect of individual schools. I am informed, for example, by the Director of Education that if he received an application from a school for an increase in permitted numbers for a room of the size and shape mentioned by Mrs. ELLIOTT in her speech, he would have little difficulty in approving the enrolment suggested by her.
Mr. FUNG Hon-chu referred to a number of problems concerning the preparation and sale of food. Food is of course a vital commodity but it can also be a dangerous one, and the incidence of intestinal
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