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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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ago I understand that steps were taken to have Police entered on the roll.
Now, Mr. Chairman, would you be good enough to draw the attention of the Commissioner to a complaint which has been brought to our attention on many occasions? This is that many of our rate-payers have already received these leaflets, but they have wondered why is it that the form was not attached to the leaflet which would have made the work of filling in the form and mailing it back to the Commissioner all that much easier. I would be grateful, Sir, if you could ask Government if it is at all possible to send out before September 15th to each ratepayer, not only the leaflet, but a copy of the registration form. I think that is very important if we want to have an increased registration over the previous electoral roll. We don't want half the electoral roll to be members of the public and the other half members of the Police and civil servants.
VICE-CHAIRMAN:- I will bring your remarks to the attention of the Commissioner.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Thank you, Sir.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, may I ask you to trouble the Commissioner further, because I had a complaint brought to me. You have given us a lot of statistics, and I am very grateful for so much information. But would you ask the Commissioner in how many cases applications have required further correspondence, because one person told me he had given up trying because he had so much correspondence. I wondered if that applied to other cases.
VICE-CHAIRMAN:- I shall try and find out Mrs. ELLIOTT.
MR. SALES: Sir, would you agree to record the strong disapproval of the appointed members of the move on the part of Government to deprive the women of their vote. We strongly support the Acting Chairman of the Reform Club in the protest she has lodged on this most important subject. (Laughter).
(9) Question by Mr. Henry H. L. HU:—
Is the Chairman aware that many streets on the Kowloon Peninsula lack sufficient name plates thus causing confusion to motorist? Could some measures be taken to rectify this?
VICE-CHAIRMAN:- The next question is also from Mr. Hu who is absent. I will ask the Director of Public Works to reply.
THE ACTING DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS replied as follows:-
I am aware that there are a number of streets in Kowloon where there are insufficient name plates and this can cause a certain amount of uncertainty to motorists. In some cases they may have been damaged or be inadvertently obscured by contractors' hoardings or advertisements whilst in the case of some of the longer streets not all of the intermediate road intersections have at present an adequate number of name plates. This aspect is now being investigated and it is hoped that the more obvious examples of insufficiency due to one reason or another will shortly be rectified.
As mentioned in reply to a previous question on similar lines in May 1965 the Public Works Department replaces all old and damaged street name plates when a deficiency is found or when it is brought to their attention and if Mr. Hu or any other Member of this Council would care to give me, any time after this meeting, a list of specific locations where he feels that street name plates should be erected, I will be only too pleased to have these investigated.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary? If Mr. ROBSON goes through the entire district of Sham Shui Po, he will find that almost all name plates are damaged, and almost all street intersections do not have names on them. (Laughter).
ACTING DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:- Mr. Chairman, Dr. BELL has given me a mammoth task, but I certainly will visit Sham Shui Po. I know a part of this district myself, because I dodge through the side streets on my way to the golf club. I know of some long streets where there are name plates at the end, but nothing in between.
DR. BELL:- I am so grateful that the Director of Public Works plays golf.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, in this respect would it be possible for the Cleansing Division of the Urban Services Department to make a survey in the course of their daily work, and to bring the result of this survey to the attention of the Director of Public Works?
VICE-CHAIRMAN:- Thank you, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN. Yes, I see no reason why they couldn't do this. I think they would have to be given very specific instructions on exactly what we wanted before they undertook a survey.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, may I make another suggestion to you following on those lines? It would seem to me in the average town-