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MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, on what grounds did you rule my question out of order? It was arising out of Mr. BERNACCHI's reply.
CHAIRMAN: Sorry, but I would like it to arise out of the original question and I would have been happier if the original question had been worded to ask "who is responsible for putting the litter there" rather than removing it.
MR. SALES: Is it perhaps because your Department has failed to put this suggestion into practice?
CHAIRMAN: No, I do not think that is correct, Mr. SALES.
The litter bins were there. We found, I think, that the hawkers came along and put one crate on top of the litter bin and nothing else could be put in.
MR. BERNACCHI: Mr. Chairman, in view of your ruling, I would not like it to be thought that I was not prepared to answer the question. But in view of your ruling, I would ask the next question.
(14) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question:-
As Marble Road is a Hawker Control Force area why has it been allowed to get into the condition that it is at present?
MR. D. J. R. BLAKER, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKER MANAGEMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:
Marble Road is part of the area covered by the Eastern Sub-Division of the Hawker Control Force which extends from Shau Kei Wan in the east to Whitfield Road in the west. Within this area there are approximately 2,300 hawkers of all types, and the Hawker Control staff available are 1 Officer, 12 N.C.O.s and 46 Constables. In Marble Road itself, it is estimated that there are 436 hawkers while only 2 Constables can be spared to control them on any one shift.
As Members are no doubt aware, the hawker situation deteriorated during the 1967 disturbances and the position has not yet been restored. In fact, since the disturbances, the Hawker Control Force in Marble Road area have concentrated on the neighbouring Chun Yeung Street, through which the trams run, and on Shu Kuk Street and Tong Shui Road which intersect Marble Road and which are also traffic routes. This has admittedly been at the expense of Marble Road which, from the traffic point of view, is less important, but even in these streets the position is far from satisfactory.
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To restore order in Marble Road will require a major operation involving several Government Departments. Following the visit of the Hawker Management Select Committee to this street on 12th February suggested by Mrs. ELLIOTT it has been agreed that such an operation should be carried out after the Lunar New Year holiday.
I think that Members are aware that such factors as the Council's current policy of tolerating static pedlar hawkers, deficiencies in the Hawker By-laws and the lack of supervisory staff and inadequate strength in the Hawker Control Force, have all contributed to the present unsatisfactory situation.
MR. BERNACCHI: Is the answer in effect that the situation in Marble Road got out of control during the riots?
MR. BLAKER: As I understand it, the position in Marble Road was less unsatisfactory before the riots than it is now. It deteriorated since the riots, and has remained more unsatisfactory since then. There has been a question as to whether Marble Road itself should be cleared at the expense of the surrounding streets or the other streets at the expense of Marble Road. The guiding principle was that trams should be permitted to move freely. Therefore the other roads have been cleared leaving Marble Road in a terrible state. I think it is probably due to the fact that there is simply not enough staff to cover all locations satisfactorily, and some have to give.
MR. BERNACCHI: The 436 hawkers that Mr. BLAKER refers to, are these all the hawkers in the surrounding streets as well as in Marble Road?
MR. BLAKER: These are the hawkers in Marble Road itself.
MR. BERNACCHI: So, 2 constables do control 436 hawkers? Why are 2 constables insufficient to control 436 hawkers?
MR. BLAKER: Mr. Chairman, the total strength of the Hawker Control Force is 500. 60,000 hawkers, one constable to 100 hawkers. The proportion of Control Force here, 2 constables, is less than the average. I think that greater emphasis has been placed on the other roads because of the need for traffic to pass.
MR. BERNACCHI: But I think the complaint of Chun Yeung Street itself demonstrates the actual position of the whole of this area, and I would ask that it be considered as a whole area and not confined to Marble Road itself. It is the whole area that needs something done about it, and that brings me back to the question I asked last time about the new market. Cannot the new market be so constructed as to take up more hawkers from this particular area?
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