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Mr. Chairman, I must also invite attention to the help which is given to this well-trained force by the Royal Life Saving Society and the Hong Kong Life Guard Club whose volunteer members give so generously of their time in supplementing the efforts of paid officials.
Despite these elaborate and costly safeguards, increasing numbers of people drown each year. Last year, for example, 8 people drowned at urban beaches and this season 4 lives have already been lost. These figures reflect, of course, the extraordinary rate of increase in the numbers of people in Hong Kong who swim off our beaches. In the crowded conditions of the Colony's beaches, and with so many bathers involved, any thought of avoiding accidents altogether would be unrealistic. All the Urban Council can do is to take reasonable precautions and to keep down the number of accidents by employing a highly efficient staff and have readily available up-to-date life-saving equipment.
At the beginning of the current bathing season, the Urban Services Department broadcast in both English and Chinese a talk on the dangers of careless bathing and only very recently the department distributed nearly a quarter of a million copies of a pamphlet which made bold reference to bathing fatalities and which cautioned the public against swimming in high seas.
In his reference to hygiene, I assume that Mr. Henry Hu is concerned with the problem of water-borne refuse. I sympathize with his wish to discuss this matter for it is not a satisfactory situation. I am told that the subject was raised in a recent meeting of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee and its complexity was then made clear. The Urban Services Department formed an Inter-Departmental Committee last November to examine ways of improving the environmental hygiene of bathing beaches. A good deal has been achieved through rectifying defects in drainage systems on land near to beaches, but the problem of accumulating sea-borne refuse remains. The department has gathered together information on devices used in other countries to exclude floating refuse from bathing areas and the technical feasibility of using similar methods in Hong Kong is now being examined in the Public Works Department and the Marine Department.
MR. HU:- Mr. Chairman, I understand this Sub-Committee of the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee is on a temporary basis?
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MR. SALES:- Yes, it was an ad hoc committee. The last time it was set up I should think was in the winter 1966-67.
MR. HU: Could further efforts be made to look at our beaches in the New Territories?
CHAIRMAN:- Mr. Hu, that is out of order; you have no beaches in the New Territories run by the Urban Council.
MR. SALES:- Perhaps I might be able to explain, Mr. Chairman. The beaches in the New Territories, the gazetted beaches, come directly under the responsibility of the Director of Urban Services. Now, the Urban Council Select Committee is able to advise the Department, but cannot enforce action in the same way as we do for the urban areas. This was an arrangement entered into before Mr. Henry Hu joined the Council and perhaps for this reason he was not aware of the position.
MR. HU:- I think, Mr. Chairman, you probably corrected me a little bit prematurely. As a matter of fact, I would ask Mr. SALES to look into this matter in his Select Committee on Recreation and Amenities, to look at the affairs or to give advice concerning the beaches in the New Territories. I did not say that he should do something or to look after these beaches. I know very well that the New Territories beaches are under the jurisdiction of the Urban Services Department.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I am always more than eager to accommodate Mr. Henry Hu, as he is well aware, and also the Council, so we will be very happy indeed to ask your Department, Sir, to ensure that the facilities which are available for the public are improved in the coming winter so that next year they will be better.
MR. HU:- Thank you.
(2) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:
Could the Chairman inform the Council whether there is any publication for the general public in Hong Kong as guidance concerning resettlement? If so, whether there is any Chinese version of such guidance?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, in the absence of the Commissioner for Resettlement, replied as follows:
The best general guide to resettlement policy is the 1964 White Paper, known as the Review of Policies for Squatter Control, Resettlement and Government Low-Cost Housing. This document is bilingual.
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