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Mr. BERNACCHI, Mr. FORSGATE and Mr. Henry WONG commented on this temporary disconnection as a potential public health hazard, as a bad public relations exercise and as an example of the results of inadequate building management respectively.
If indeed there was a health hazard, disconnection of the supply to this building lasted for only 5 days, and the situation there was certainly no worse than the whole population endured for 12 months during the drought of 1963-64 in that stand pipes providing free water 24 hours of the day were available adjacent to the building.
An alternative system of charging for water by a flat rate, whilst attractive in theory falls down when rationing is the order of the day and it must not be assumed that Hong Kong is assured of a 24 hour supply for evermore. We are very much at the whim of the Rain God as this year has indicated. And if the Water Authority could only provide 4 hours of water a day and the population paid a flat rate based on a 24 hour supply they would claim to have been cheated. But even if this were not the case there is no doubt that a flat rate for water would certainly lead to much higher consumption and it is difficult enough, physically and financially, to keep pace with the present rate of increase in demand.
Mr. BERNACCHI's other suggestion, that all flats should be compelled to have separate meters has in fact been applied to all new buildings since 1965. It has not however been applied compulsorily to existing buildings because of the complexity and high cost of conversion, and the practical difficulties of obtaining agreement to common expenditure in a multi-storey building. This difficulty becomes self-evident when one considers that although it has been the policy since 1967 to permit and encourage conversion of existing buildings to separate meters, the residents, in the very cases where separate meters are most needed--e.g. the Wah Tak Building, have not been able to reach agreement to take advantage of this arrangement. And this was not because of lack of effort on the part of the Water Authority and the City District Officers who for 9 months prior to cutting off the water had tried all means to help the management committee and tenants to sort out their problems.
Mr. FORSGATE appreciates the practical necessity of the course of action pursued, and is obviously correct when he says that more strenuous efforts should be made to avoid mis-representation, and a bad press. My Department as a whole, puts a good deal of effort in attempting to present its many activities to the public in a balanced way, and this will continue. I agree however that with a little foresight a really bad press can be avoided but the trouble is of course finding the time to project or protect one's image while getting on with the job.
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An example of this is when the Department has to cut down old established and beautiful trees to make way for public works such as road works. I am therefore taking this opportunity to mention that no request to the Urban Council to cut down trees can be made by any Public Works Department without my personal approval. Each case is brought to a conference over which I preside weekly and must be supported by photographs, a plan of the project with the trees shown on, and the reasons why the project cannot be re-designed to miss the tree. Even so many trees are being lost but I am sure that Members will be pleased to know that, in addition to the tree planting efforts of this Council, the Public Works Department includes in its contracts an item to cover the planting of trees to replace, as far as possible, those which are lost. It will take many years for this work to bear fruit but it should at least ensure that the beauty and heritage of this colony will be preserved for future generations. (Applause).
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: -Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the welcome which you have given me to the Council. I was not present at previous sessions of this debate but I would assure Appointed and Elected Members that I have thoroughly studied their comments, particularly those which concern health, hygiene and sanitation.
I will deal first with Members' comments on food hygiene and environmental sanitation, matters in respect of which this Council is the Authority.
Mr. Peter C. K. CHAN raised the question of the licensing of food premises, and the delays which occur in our present licensing system. He is, of course, perfectly correct: there are delays. However, the Food and Food Premises Select Committee has the licensing procedure constantly in mind and would welcome suggestions as to how it can be improved. I think that Members familiar with the Council's licensing system will appreciate that, in the majority of cases of delay in the issue of a licence, the responsibility rests with the applicant. How we can overcome this I am not sure, particularly as the licensing procedure approved by this Council is designed to assist the applicant in every way. There is no other council in any country of the world that I know of which goes out of its way quite as much as we do to assist an applicant. In this respect we have the full co-operation of the Fire Services Department and of the Building Ordinance Office who are of course concerned with the safety factors involved in the issue of a licence.
Mr. Kenneth Lo, the Chairman of the Food and Food Premises Select Committee, also spoke on this important matter. He referred in particular to the possibility of minimum fines. This suggestion has previously met with considerable objection and the Urban Services
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