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Mr. RAFEEK remarked on the need to enlarge the existing library services to include every district. He will be pleased to know that the Library Select Committee under Mrs. ELLIOTT drew up a programme some time ago for the expansion of the library services to cover most of the urban areas. This programme is at present under consideration by Government.
The Recreation and Amenities Select Committee recently considered a paper on policy for the control of advertising signs, together with drafting instructions for the revision of the outdated Advertisements By-laws. At the request of the Select Committee, interested departments are at present being consulted on the proposals. If all goes well, it should be possible to place new draft By-laws before the Council in the course of 1969-70.
Seven Members spoke on the subject of hawkers. Their comments have been noted, and if I do not attempt to answer them all today, it is because the re-constituted Hawker Policy Select Committee is at present carrying out a review of the whole subject and the answers to some of the points raised will only emerge as a result of this review.
I agree with those Members who have urged that the hawker problem should be tackled in the interest of the public as a whole and not of hawkers alone. We have already taken the first steps towards creating the machinery that we need to give us an accurate picture of local opinion, and the enlarged Hawker Policy Select Committee, with the advice and assistance of District Hawker Consultative Committees, should be well placed to draw up a policy which will meet the requirements of the community, not merely of the hawkers.
Some Members have commented on the need for greater emphasis on the implementation of hawker policy and, here again, I agree with them. But once the Council has decided on a fair and practical policy to be firmly and consistently applied, I am confident that requests by the department for more staff to implement that policy will get a sympathetic hearing.
Both Mr. Henry Hu and Dr. P. F. Woo have argued that the number of hawker licences issued should be related to the number of suitable hawker sites available. An examination of the streets in the urban area available for hawking is already being carried out jointly by the Urban Services Department, the Public Works Department and the Transport Office. The difficulty is, of course, that hawkers generally prefer to trade in the busiest streets which are just those where their presence causes the greatest interference with traffic, and a balance will have to be struck. It must also be recognized that any scheme for the allocation of sites to hawkers and for the limitation of the number of hawker licences will be unsuccessful as long as unlicensed hawking goes uncontrolled.
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Three Members (Dr. BELL, Mr. LOBO and Dr. Woo) spoke on the question of markets. In this field, some progress has been made. In addition to the new market at North Point which is under construction, five other markets are now at an advanced stage of planning, and this is a much healthier picture than has been the case for several years. A great deal of work has also been done in collaboration with the Public Works Department to standardize the facilities to be provided in each market and this will make the planning of future markets much simpler. Dr. Woo said in his speech that the market programme has been re-activated because of the acute shortage of hawker bazaars and with the object of incorporating pedlar hawkers into markets. The purpose, of course, of building markets is to provide housewives with the cheap, clean and convenient service which they need. The new markets will have in them "mini-stalls" for the sale of fruit and vegetables which will be let to hawkers so helping to reduce the number of hawkers on the streets—though, here again, control in the streets is absolutely essential if this scheme is to work. Dr. Woo put forward the suggestion, made not infrequently in the past, that Fresh Provision Shop Licences should not be issued to premises near to markets. I am sure that the Markets Select Committee will wish to take this matter up firmly with the Food and Food Premises Select Committee which is responsible for the issue of Fresh Provision Shop Licences.
Dr. BELL has suggested that proper multi-storey markets should be built in Resettlement Estates and I think that there is something to be said for this proposal—though not necessarily for multi-storey markets. I have arranged to discuss with the Resettlement Department whether small markets can and should be built in existing estates and whether, in future estates, larger markets should be planned.
Dr. BELL also proposed on-the-spot fines as a means of deterring the public from littering streets and public places. Whilst agreeing that, in theory, this might be one way of getting quick results, I am afraid that, in practice, it is not a measure which can be easily and effectively adopted, as in the built-up areas large quantities of litter are thrown down from upper storeys and I do not think I need to enlarge on the problem of identifying the culprits. In addition, lawyers might be up in arms about infringement of the rights of the individual, since the officer demanding the fine would be both witness and judge. And there is always the problem of an alleged offender claiming that he has not got the necessary money or requiring change. Taking names and addresses is more often than not a waste of time, because of the amount of false information supplied.
The Cleansing Division has recently been reviewing the operations of its new anti-litter patrols and it is thought that by getting these patrols to make door-to-door calls on the shops and flats in areas with badly littered streets, a noticeable improvement could perhaps be
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