HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN:-I am sure that they do, Mrs. ELLIOTT. You will find evidence of this in the January Monthly Report, paragraph 60, page 10 "Hawking without a Licence": 369 hawkers were charged in January. Lower down you will see a heading "Selling or exposing for sale restricted food without the Council's permission": 46 charges for selling meat, 134 for selling poultry and 8 for selling fish.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, thank you for that answer. Concerning the part where it says the collectors deny that the payments were corrupt, was no enquiry made into what was being done with these payments?
CHAIRMAN:-Mrs. ELLIOTT, this case arose before I came to the Chair of this Council. I am not very familiar with the details, but I happen to know, on that particular aspect, that when taxed by the police for the reason for the collections, the collectors said that they were collecting for some person or persons who had suffered injury. It was a whip round to help someone who was in distress, according to them.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask if it would not be possible in that case for the police to investigate very carefully why these payments were made. I was told it was for charity. Surely, the police would investigate why these payments were made and check on what charity it was. It would be illegal to collect money otherwise, wouldn't it?
CHAIRMAN:-I am sorry, I cannot answer that question, Mrs. ELLIOTT. I imagine the police did make these enquiries, but what the outcome of the enquiries was, I do not know.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, concerning point 3, I am seriously concerned about any new plans we make for hawkers, because I always have it in the back of my mind that it is going to be difficult to carry anything out. I wondered if you have seen this article in the China Mail, Tuesday, January 31st, (Mrs. ELLIOTT held up a copy of the China Mail) in which one hawker says, and I am quoting "almost every hawker throughout the Colony pays squeeze to some members of the Hawker Control Force".
CHAIRMAN:-Well, Mrs. ELLIOTT, I must say in defence of the Force, that I regard that as a gross exaggeration by the person quoted. As regards what the effect of corruption in the Force might be on our future plans, we do have men who do take action now, and if we did not have this Force in operation we should soon see a deterioration of conditions. The only thing we can do about the future is to proceed in faith, which, we have it on good authority, can move mountains.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask then how a hawker can make a charge of corruption, since I have it written here that if he does he will be investigated and if he is found to have paid a bribe, or to be a member of a triad society, he himself will be prosecuted. How can any hawker if he has paid a bribe ever report this under the condition that he is going to be prosecuted for doing so?
CHAIRMAN:-Mrs. ELLIOTT, the portion of the letter you have quoted was not in your original question. I cannot answer that without studying it. If you would like to give me further particulars I will gladly go into it with you.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I shall be glad if you will because I am really very concerned about it.
(2) MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:
Can the Secretary for Chinese Affairs make a statement concerning what will be done this year by Government to reduce the danger of indiscriminate discharge of fire-crackers during the Chinese New Year holidays, and what assistance he expects will be given by the staff of the Urban Services and Resettlement Departments?
THE SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS replied as follows:
It was decided that the main feature of the Government's approach to this problem should be, as in previous years, a widespread publicity campaign. Following that decision a campaign was planned by a working party consisting of representatives of fifteen interested departments working under the chairmanship of an officer of the Information Services Department. I hope that all members will by now have observed that this campaign is in progress.
All available media of public information are being used, and a great deal of assistance is being given by schools, Kaifong and other associations, welfare centres, rural committees, public utility companies and so forth, and I should like to add a tribute to the Press and the Cinemas who also are giving their full co-operation. Under the law the discharge of certain types of fireworks is prohibited. These are types that are known to be dangerous and can be easily defined. But there are other types which experience has shown to have caused injuries but which are difficult to define with precision. This year therefore we have had discussions with the importers
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