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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, I am very happy to second this motion and I have done some homework on it starting from the year 1957 which was the 2nd year of the Hansard. I have mislaid Volume I and what happened before that is only recorded in very brief minutes. In that year 1957 Dr. BELL moved a motion which I seconded, that shops retailing frozen and chilled confectioneries should be regularly visited during the hot season for the purpose of sampling to ensure that they are free from bacteriological contamination, and that this matter be referred to the appropriate Select Committee. This Motion was passed unanimously, but as I am not a member of the Food and Food Premises Select Committee, I must say that to this date I do not know whether this is being done. Then in the same year Dr. LEE moved a motion that in view of the anticipated delay before the new abattoir is constructed, (a delay which is evident today 10 years afterwards) but to go back to the Motion, the Slaughter Houses Select Committee should consider practical measures to improve the present unsatisfactory conditions in the Ma Tau Kok Slaughter House. That was seconded by Dr. BELL and carried. But again not being on the Select Committee dealing with Slaughter Houses, I personally do not know what is the present condition of the Ma Tau Kok Slaughter House although it is rumoured that it has been far from satisfactory.
Then in the same year Dr. Woo moved that the issue of licences be streamlined which Mr. LI Yiu-bor seconded and the motion was carried. Has anything been done about this motion? In the beginning of 1958, I moved a long motion about car parking including a sentence that the relevant Select Committee be requested to take further steps to reduce to a minimum the inconvenience to members of the public in the collection of parking fees and general organization of parking facilities. This for once was carried unanimously. In March 1958 the then Chairman moved a motion that the Hawker Report 1957 be accepted and recommends to Government that the proposals should be approved and put into effect, which I seconded, and again this motion was carried unanimously, I know a little bit of the sequel being the present Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee, but does the public? Has it ever been announced in public? At the same meeting, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN moved a motion that consideration be given to carrying out a survey of street lighting facilities in the urban areas and that this motion should be referred to appropriate Select Committee for detailed study. This motion was also carried unanimously. I know that park lighting has been improved, but I must confess I am in ignorance of what action has been taken on this motion regarding street lighting because I am again not on the appropriate Select Committee.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Later, in 1958, I moved a motion that a Model boat pool be constructed in Victoria Park which was seconded by Dr. BELL and which was again carried unanimously. I know that it has been done because I have seen it, but as an Urban Councillor I would not have known it. In Dr. BELL's speech she says that she hopes this suggestion would be just as successful as the "Bernacchi Boulevards". reminds me of an earlier motion that was not covered by Hansards, in which I proposed the construction of sitting out places along Gloucester Road, in place of the parking of lorries. Although that was approved and done the sitting out places have been gradually encroached upon and I do hope that in the new reclamation the sea front will not be similarly obstructed by lorries.
Later in the same year, Mr. SALES made his 1st motion about an indoor stadium, again, I do know a little of the subsequent history, but does the public, apart from such enclosed spaces as are available to see on the ground: The same Mr. SALES moved in January 1959 that the Urban Council Amenities Select Committee be asked to investigate how best to use the land adjoining the Kowloon Railway tracks as open areas for public use. I see a Mr. Au (of the Reform Club) seconded this motion and that it was carried. Much water has run along the Kowloon Railway tracks since then, but what has happened to this motion? Immediately afterwards, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN moved that this Council should consider the desirability of starting a Zoological Garden in Hong Kong which was seconded by Mr. Li Yiu-bor and carried unanimously. But from July 1959 to October 1967 has any real development been taken on this motion, which even all the officials supported and despite the fact that it was raised again in April 1965? No wonder, reading the Hansard, Mr. SALES seems to repeat the same subject time and time again, which should not be necessary.
Time is getting on, Mr. Chairman, and I am forced to reduce the number of motions I refer to in more recent years. But I see that in the meeting of September 1959 I moved, Mr. SALES seconded and the motion was carried, that the Standing Orders and Procedure Select Committee should consider the practicability of the suggestion that answers given by the Chairman of the Urban Council as to a particular Select Committee's work and responsibilities, should only be given after consultation with the Chairman of the appropriate Select Committee. I think, in fairness to you Mr. Chairman and indeed to all subsequent chairmen, they have always done that, and nearly always they ask the Chairman of the particular Select Committee to reply, but has any official pronouncement been made on this position or, in theory at least, could it be another lost motion?
In the meeting of February 1962, I moved a motion that this Council accepts the supplementary Hawker Report 1962 and recommends to Government that proposals be approved and put into effect which was duly carried. Again, as with the previous Hawker Report, has any official statement been officially given in any public meeting? I see in my speech that even in 1962 I stressed the enormous increase in the number of hawkers and recommended the report's reference to
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