HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The first Urban Council's "Let's Get Together" show was staged in Morse Park on 22nd April. The Scout Association is being invited to co-operate further in a series of these events. Care will have to be taken to control audiences which, on the last occasion, numbered over 20,000.
Another joint venture organized this time with the Royal Hong Kong Life Saving Society, took place on 4th May. Members will be aware from comments in the press that 100 young people from the Shek Pai Wan Resettlement Estate were taken for a day of fun to Big Wave Bay. If the generosity of the Life Saving Society can be extended, we hope that our combined effort will help many hundreds more from Resettlement Estates to enjoy a day by the sea.
The Kowloon Tsai Swimming Pool cannot be floodlit as it lies in the approach path to the airport. The Director of Civil Aviation has confirmed, however, that no objection would be raised to the installation of temporary lighting providing it were adequately shaded. Details are being worked out and, if it proves feasible, the Select Committee will be asked to authorize the entry, each Saturday night, of 2,000 young people from neighbouring resettlement estates. Participants will be selected through the Kaifong Associations.
There are other tentative proposals for outdoor activities but I think Members will agree that the Recreation and Amenities Division of the Urban Services Department must be left with the widest possible brief and be required to consult the Select Committee only when firm proposals can be made and when details have been worked out to ensure that ventures are only embarked upon if they can be carried out with safety and efficiency.
I would be grateful for any suggestions Members might wish to put to the Select Committee.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, I have only one supplementary and that is could Mr. SALES see that all the other activities are given plenty of publicity, as much publicity as was given to the Mod Pop-In, which I think has excluded quite a lot of the other activities which are planned and which are extremely good?
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I should be very happy to do that, but we have no control over what the newspapers want to publish. The division is working very closely with the press through the G.I.S. but there are certain press releases or other items which don't attract the press at all. Somehow or other the novelty of Government sponsoring public dances was so great that the newspapers gave it tremendous publicity.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, is Mr. SALES sure that it wasn't because it was "sun chiu" that the press were interested?
(23) MR. H. M. G. FORSGATE asked the following question:
Plague
(a) How many rats have been examined for plague since 1st January, 1968?
(b) How many of these rats have been found to be infected with plague?
(c) In the event of an infection being found what action will the Department take in the interests of public health to prevent spread of the disease?
(d) Has the department an adequate provision of staff and equipment to deal with an outbreak of the disease?
THE ACTING DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES replied as follows:-
From January 1st 1968 to the end of April 1968, 22,943 rodents were examined for plague by the Institute of Pathology. None were found to be infected with plague. All rodents examined are tagged, so that in the event of the discovery of an infected rodent, the district from which the animal was recovered can be pin-pointed. Staff of the Urban Services Department Pest Control Unit would take immediate measures to destroy the principal insect vector of the disease, the tropical rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis), throughout the vicinity where the infected rodent was found.
Staff would be drawn from the Pest Control Unit's rodent and insect control staff, of which there is an adequate number for this purpose (222, all told, including 163 labourers). Additional manpower could, if necessary, be drawn from other sources, e.g. culicine mosquito control staff and the District Health Inspectorate. Concerning equipment, including protective clothing for anti-plague measures, this was reviewed some time ago and orders placed where necessary for additional or replacement items.
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