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fabric which spreads out in the air of the adjacent locality and thereby causes a nuisance to the residents nearby. The residents also complain about the thick smoke which emits from the 5 chimneys of that factory.
Can this Council be informed:
(a) What steps (if any) have been taken to abate this nuisance?
(b) What steps (if any) have been taken to solve the general smoke problem in Hung Hom?
MR. WILSON T. S. WANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ABATTOIRS AND OFFENSIVE TRADES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
The feather factory in Ma Tau Wei Road is licensed by the Urban Council as an offensive trade. It is of course also registered with the Labour Department. The factory has five chimneys but they are not used for any furnace, oven or burner. They are in fact for discharging exhaust air from the five feather sorting machines on the ground floor of the factory after it has passed through dry filtering boxes on the first floor and wet setting boxes at roof level. Traces of white particles are occasionally seen around the tops of these chimneys, but they do not constitute a smoke nuisance under the Clean Air Ordinance, nor has any complaint been received about smoke. Complaints have, however, been received about feather fluff emitting from the factory. In this particular factory, this fluff arises mostly from the manual baling process and during the loading and unloading of feathers from lorries. An enclosed type of baling machine with pneumatic transfer is at present being installed to replace the manual process so that when the installation is completed within the next few weeks, excessive fluff should be eliminated. The proprietor has also been asked to keep the roller gate of the loading bay closed so that feather fluff will not escape from the premises. In addition, the defective wire gauze on the windows has now all been repaired and the five chimneys have been equipped with devices to suppress the emission. The factory will be kept under observation.
With regard to the second part of the question, you will probably remember that a somewhat similar question was asked by Mr. Henry Hu in September's Council meeting and Dr. M. H. HUANG, Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee, replied. I can do no more than
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
to reiterate what Dr. HUANG said and that is that the control of air pollution arising from industrial plants in the Hung Hom area does not devolve upon the Urban Council, but upon the Labour Department.
Members might be interested in a reply given by the Commissioner of Labour to a question by Mr. SZETO Wai in the Legislative Council on 13th August on the subject of air pollution, with particular emphasis on pollution in Hung Hom, and I now table a copy of this reply (Appendix II).
MR. C. K. CHAN:- Mr. Chairman, under the Clean Air Ordinance is it not true that your staff are also officers empowered to do something to deal with pollution in the air. I have not got the Ordinance with me, but if my memory is correct it is something like Section 10 or so, and I think the Gazette, if you would look up the Appendix, page 117, is that authorized health inspectors and all ranks of staff in the Urban Services Department to do the job of abatement of nuisance of air pollution. Correct me if I am wrong?
CHAIRMAN:- When you refer to the nuisance of air pollution, are you thinking of smoke or of something else?
MR. C. K. CHAN:- Well, of course, air pollution concerns smoke as well as this kind of nuisance which is very border line. To quote the complaint in an English letter which says that "the feathers dance densely in the air".
CHAIRMAN:- As I explained at the previous meeting, the question of smoke arising from combustion processes now rests with the Labour Department. The responsibility rests with the Labour Department to check up on this because many of the factories cause smoke nuisance, and smoke nuisance caused by combustion processes is better handled by experts in the Labour Department. In the case of feathers, presumably the Health Inspectorate would take an interest in the matter.
MR. HU:- Mr. Chairman, just for clarification, on page 2 of Mr. Wilson WANG's answer, although the written answer at the September meeting to my question said that really the control of air should be the responsibility of the Labour Department, later we look into our Ordinance and Regulations and find that we are still the authority to solve this problem. Mr. Chairman, am I correct?
CHAIRMAN:- You are quite correct, Mr. Hu. We remain an authority under the Ordinance, but as I have explained a number of times now, when it comes to combustion processes the Labour Department looks into this.
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