HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(5) MR. HENRY H. L. HU asked the following question:-
What measures have been taken to enable hawkers to hawk inside bazaars or in side-streets? How far have such measures been successful? Are we intending to intensify such efforts?
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKERS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
This question refers to the formation of proper on-street and off-street hawker bazaars.
For several years now, one of the published aims of the Hawkers Select Committee has been "to continue clearing main roads and concentrating hawkers in side streets or off-street bazaars and markets". This is a continuing process, and several large hawker bazaars have been set up every year since that was originally adopted as the aim of this Council in 1964. The most recent examples are the December 1967 clearance of hawkers from Nga Tsin Long and Hau Wong Roads into the Kowloon City Bazaar, the May 1968 formation of Healthy Street East hawker bazaar, the opening of Kwun Tong Market and its adjacent hawker bazaar in June of this year, and the formation of a new bazaar of 377 sites at Shui Wo Street, Kwun Tong some two weeks ago. Other bazaars are projected in the near future.
The success of these measures depends to a large extent on the location of the bazaars from which the hawkers are expected to do business, and the Hawkers Select Committee is well aware that no useful purpose can be served by tucking hawker bazaars neatly away in unsuitable locations which prospective customers simply will not take the trouble to visit. Hence, bazaars are now planned to be as accessible to the public as is possible, bearing in mind the undeniable claims of other Government services, departments and welfare organizations for the very valuable land involved. It was partly with this in view that the Hawkers Select Committee has now been strengthened, as I will announce to the Council later in the Agenda, by the inclusion of high calibre representatives from most of the other departments of Government directly or indirectly concerned with the siting of hawkers. The answer to the last part of your question, Sir, is that our efforts to form hawker bazaars are limited to a large extent by the availability of suitable sites for the purpose, but that within these limitations we are at present doing our best to realize our published aim. There is also no doubt that in future we shall have to intensify our efforts to obtain more suitable sites for hawkers, both fixed pitch and so-called pedlar, the majority of whom in Hong Kong in fact hawk from a fixed site.
MR. HU: -Mr. Chairman, I would ask Mr. BERNACCHI, is this policy successful so far?
MR. BERNACCHI: -In my opinion, yes, Sir. I would add one rider, that the greatest difficulty we have come up against is to fit the number of hawkers into any one bazaar, and that is a problem that has not always been successful. There are really only two answers to it, either the bazaar to be made larger, which is not always possible, or a limit to be put on the number of sites and a ballot to be held: the unsuccessful hawkers being refused a site at all, and being compelled to hawk in another area.
MR. BLAKER: -Mr. Chairman, could Mr. BERNACCHI tell us how many miles of roadway have in fact been cleared in this way, and how many miles of roadway remain cluttered up by hawkers?
MR. BERNACCHI: -I have not got figures. Perhaps the Director of Public Works would be more able to answer that than I, but certainly many more miles of roadway need to be cleared before the position is satisfactory.
CHAIRMAN: -We would require notice of that question, Mr. BLAKER.
(6) MR. HENRY H. L. HU asked the following question:-
Could the Chairman inform the Council how many registered hawkers were there in the years 1966, 1967 and 1968 in different categories: Cooked Food Stalls, General Stalls, Fixed Pitches, and Pedlar Hawkers? Is there any fluctuation of figures in each category during the last three years? How many persons are hawking without licences? Are they mainly pedlar hawkers?
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKERS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
This question concerns hawker licensing statistics.
I am grateful to Mr. Hu for asking this particular question as it brings out the unsatisfactory gap between the present hawker policies and the present position on the ground.
In reply, I propose to take the different categories of hawker licence separately and to supply the relevant figures for July of each year.
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