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Hall Select Committee cannot go forward and give better service to the public in the ambitious way that that Select Committee has in view. I would like to have these remarks noted, and also ask you Sir to bring them to the attention of the Establishment Officer.
CHAIRMAN: ----To take the second point first. On the matter of the Assistant Manager for the City Hall, we are continuing to impress upon the Establishment Officer the need for this post. As regards play leaders, from my scrutiny of this summary of the estimates, it appears that we did not apply as a department for play leaders in next year's estimates.
MR. BERNACCHI :-From scrutiny of the document in question, you don't seem to have applied for an Assistant Manager either.
CHAIRMAN: -We have applied for an Assistant Manager for the City Hall in the separate context of a reorganisation of the whole staff of the City Hall, including some regradings.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Thank you very much.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, regarding the Ward system, it has been suggested that certain members of the public had to be turned away from other Wards because of lack of office space and other services--perhaps Mr. CHEONG-LEEN and I might suggest that if any of our colleagues find that they have to turn away members of the public, they could ask them to come and see us, particularly now as Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has come back from prolonged absence; I would be delighted to offer his services to other Wards.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:---Mr. Chairman, on a point of clarification, even during my absence there were certain requests from members of the public which were quite adequately taken care of by my personal staff.
QUESTIONS.
(1) MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:-
Complaints have been made in the past about the smell coming from a certain factory in North Point, and action has been promised both by the factory and the department. As complaints are still being received, could the Council be told what the present situation is, and whether the company has yet removed from the premises the offensive side of their production, as promised?
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THE DEPUTY Director of MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES replied as follows:-
The chief cause of previous complaints about noxious fumes from this factory was the emission of acidic fumes arising from an anodising plant. This plant was removed from the factory in January this year and the nuisance appeared to have been abated. The original complainant was contacted on February 16th and expressed satisfaction with the present situation. No complaints have been received by the Urban Services Department since the removal of the anodising plant.
The factory was visited by a senior professional officer of the Urban Services Department on February 22nd. There was no evidence of noxious fume in either the factory or the adjacent multi-storey domestic building. There is, however, an electro-plating plant in the factory which generates a fume with a slightly acid smell. The exhaust ventilation from the plating tanks connects to chimneys discharging at sixth floor level. There is a possibility-- although, as stated, there was no evidence of nuisance at the time of the visit that, with varying climatic conditions and according to the method of operation of the process, these fumes may cause a nuisance to the occupants of the adjacent building. I would be grateful if Mrs. ELLIOTT could supply me with specific details of the complaints still being received, so that more detailed investigations may be carried out.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I first of all thank Dr. WYILE for this very quick dealing with this matter. I believe there is some improvement, however in paragraph 1 Dr. WYILE says that about January this year the thing was settled, whilst the next paragraph talks about some sort of trouble reaching the sixth floor. Now, as this letter written to me is dated 10th February, which is after the date of removal, and since the complaint comes from someone on the 8th floor, would it be quite all right for me to ask Dr. WYILE to check up with this person to see whether he is satisfied or not?
CHAIRMAN: -Certainly.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Thank you.
(2) MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following questions:-
(a) Is the Resettlement Department applying the same policy in the resettlement of residents in the Yaumati clearance as for squatters on Crown Land?
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