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MR. FORSGATE:-Mr. Chairman, in Kowloon we suffered for many years from a rather smelly mortuary. Could I ask, through you Sir, whether or not this mortuary will be air-conditioned with a waiting room?
CHAIRMAN: -Sir, I do not know the answer. I will obtain the information and let you have it.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Sir, could I have the assurance of Dr. BELL that when she used the word "you" she was not referring to the Chairman of the Urban Council?
DR. BELL:-Mr. Chairman, on a point of clarification, I could have been. (Laughter).
(8) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:
I have received complaints from a number of shopkeepers and residents in the Sau Mau Ping Resettlement Estate that they have been waiting for a long time-between one to one-and-a-half years for telephone service to be installed in their premises; can the Commissioner for Resettlement take this matter up with the Telephone Company to see what can be done to expedite the long-outstanding applications for telephone service in this Resettlement Estate?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:
It is correct that there are at present no private telephones in this estate, although there is a telephone in the estate office which can be used by tenants for emergency purposes. The same position obtains at Yau Tong estate. The matter was taken up some time ago with the Postmaster General and the Hong Kong Telephone Company. I understand that no additional telephone lines can at present be connected there, because the local exchange is full. The Telephone Company is installing a new exchange at Kwun Tong and the associated cable work is also in hand. The new exchange is likely to be in operation before the end of this year when I hope that there may be an improvement. There will also be public call boxes at Sau Mau Ping and Yau Tong estates.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-In clarification of this answer may I ask, Mr. Chairman, when the Commissioner for Resettlement refers to the term "improvement", that means a telephone service will be provided?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Yes, that was my intention. MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you very much.
(9) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
Can the Chairman of the Resettlement Management Select Committee please state whether there are many vacant primary school places still in the Resettlement Estates, bearing in mind that in the second half of last year there were at one time as many as 6,000 vacant primary school places in such estates, even though there were many children of school age who were not going to school? Since the Resettlement Management Select Committee is responsible for the good management and well-being of resettlement residents and their children, can the Committee give consideration as to what more can be done to fill up all vacant school places in resettlement estates?
MR. LI YIU-BOR, CHAIRMAN OF THE RESETTLEMENT MANAGEMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:
To-day seems to be a day for Mr. CHEONG-LEEN to trouble his fellow colleagues to answer his questions, and supplementaries later.
I am advised by the Director of Education that there are about 6,600 vacancies in aided, and about 10,690 vacancies in private primary schools in or close to resettlement estates, a total of about 17,290. These figures do not include places in classrooms which have not yet been brought into use. The Resettlement Department estimates that there are about 18,000 children of primary school age in resettlement estates not attending school.
As regards filling these vacant places and persuading parents to send their children to school, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN will be aware that the matter was discussed by the Resettlement Management Select Committee at the end of last year and again in February this year. It was decided to go further than the present practice whereby the Resettlement Department posts up lists of vacant school places on the notice boards in all estates offices. Members felt that better publicity might be obtained by broadcasting this information by radio. The Director of Education has advised that such broadcasts should be made three times a year: in early August, early September, and about the middle of January, before Chinese New Year. Negotiations are now in hand to arrange this broadcasting.
MR. BERNACCHI:-How many children of primary school age are in resettlement estates?
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