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these workshops and factories, etc. to suitable accommodations along the lines of Resettlement type or Low Cost Government type flatted factories and to provide legislation to protect the domestic flat dweller. I venture to suggest that such a committee would be formed overnight if such a workshop or factory appeared in any of these great multi-storey domestic dwelling in mid-level Hong Kong.
Also in connexion with Environmental Hygiene, Mr. Chairman, you informed me in the course of replying to questions in this Council in July this year that a Committee was to be appointed to investigate the question of air pollution, smoke and exhaust fume nuisance in the Colony. It seems that this pressing and urgent problem is getting shelved. This investigatory committee should be formed as a matter of urgency. It concerns this Council in so far as we have received frequent complaints from members of the public in our wards regarding factory or restaurant chimneys causing nuisance of smoke, smuts and smell to domestic dwellers in the neighbourhood and I believe that the ordinance does provide for a ruling that only certain fuels may be used in certain areas but that this has never been enacted. I would urge that with the increased density and height of domestic dwelling that this power should be enforced to protect citizens—nothing is more irritating than to have newly washed clothes all covered in smuts, or to eat smuts with rice at every meal and the weather is much too hot for most of the year to keep windows closed to prevent this.
City Cleansing & Rubbish Collection:
I am somewhat taken aback that one of our aims is to reduce on street refuse collection points. Residents of domestic and business accommodation all pay rates either inclusively in their rent or directly and the rates are levied for amongst other things such service as refuse collection. I hope that by reducing the collection points residents, or their private refuse collectors, are not going to be required to trundle rubbish on hand carts vast distances to collection points—otherwise we can expect more street dumping than ever. If however the intention is to ensure that every new block of flats erected has a space into which the U.S.D. collecting vehicle can be parked, off the street, while rubbish collection takes place, then I do indeed support this aim but until this can be realized I would have thought that we should try to increase our collection points so as to reduce the congestion, filth and awful smell which emanates from those overloaded collection points which we have at present. If there were more collection points and a proper time-table adhered to, then I think the collection would be cleaner, less odorous and easier for the citizens to cooperate. The avoidance of rubbish sorting at collection points should I suggest be also one of our Aims. The vans should merely collect and quickly proceed to the dump where sorting and picking over can be done. This sorting habit
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at present causes many of our collection points to be very obnoxious. Mr. Chairman, most of our streets are still filthy with carelessly dumped rubbish. Vast sums of money are being spent on mechanising the street cleaning service, anti-litter campaigns and increased three times daily cleaning services in main thoroughfares (but what of the back street?!) and just how much improvement is being effected? Unfortunately I would say none and that things are getting worse. I would like to see the formation of anti-litter patrols, or Litter Guards if you like, formed from among our youngsters in the schools, the youth associations, the scouts, guides etc., just as you have Traffic Safety Patrols. Whenever the members of the anti-Litter Patrols (who could be supplied with badges) see people irresponsibly and carelessly discarding litter onto our streets they should draw the culprits' attention to it and teach them the proper place to put the offending litter. This of course leads on to the questions of proper places to put litter. My sympathy often goes out to the individual who chucks the rubbish down just anywhere because of the exasperating lack of proper places to put it. There is an appalling lack of litter bins on most of our streets. I am firmly of the opinion that there should be a litter container at least every 70 yards on all our streets and that we should have specially coloured and labelled 'litter bug' bins placed in rows in front of any shops, places of business or domestic dwelling which are known to be persistent offenders in dumping litter on the streets, so that the occupants will be publically shamed into cleaner habits. I am told that the cost of so many litter bins would be exorbitant but how, I wonder, does it compare to the cost and maintenance of one mechanical street sweeper which cannot always be put to use in busy crowded streets.
Last year I drew attention to the wretched broken and dangerous condition of many of our pavements and street gutters and I cannot say that I have seen any improvement since then. Surely with the recession in building there must be many contractors who could be employed by the roads office to effect repairs to pavements and street gutters. If a list of such places is required then I for one will be only too pleased to seek the cooperation of the residents of my ward area, Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po, to bring information to my ward office about broken pavements and street gutters in the streets where they live and forward the list to the Roads Office. It seems that at present the P.W.D. Roads Office couldn't care less about these defects, because they remain in many instances for months and years in a dangerous and unhealthy condition, I cite for example the central district between Pedder Street and Jubilee Street, and between the Star Ferry and City Hall.
Licensed Food Premises:
Improvement in the efficiency of handling licence applications for food premises does not feature as one of our aims in this Statement. I
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