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Courts for a physical closure order upon the first conviction of an offender operating an unlicensed business in premises which are unsuitable for licensing. Other less severe procedural changes were also agreed for premises which are suitable for licensing, and I would suggest that we should study the results of the new procedure before making any further changes. In any event, Members may be sure that the Food and Food Premises Select Committee will not let this matter rest until it has achieved its object.
MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, since the daily fine is provided for in our Ordinance, can you advise us how cumbersome it is to implement, how time consuming and how difficult it is to implement?
MR. LO: If we are to ask for daily fine, we would have to be prepared for an inspector to appear in Court and to swear that he has observed the premises on each one of the dates, because we cannot very well take out a summons unless we can prove that it was operating on those dates. I think we must clear up one point here; the daily fine is not an Order by the Courts that if the restaurant continues to operate it will be fined a certain sum per day. The daily fine is in respect of operations previous to the summons being taken out.
MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, on a point of clarification, can you tell me what you mean by "daily fines previous to the summons being taken out". Do you mean that before you take out a summons you just go there every day and check to see how many days?
MR. LO: Yes, that is the position, Mr. Chairman.
MR. NG: I was under the impression that the daily fines applies to premises being used unlicensed for every day they are in operation until the day of their referral in Court?
MR. LO: Yes, but we have to be prepared for an Inspector to go up and give evidence that he has inspected the premises every day for all of that period.
MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, is it impossible to implement this because we don't have enough staff?
CHAIRMAN: Shortage of staff doesn't help, Mr. NG.
MR. NG: But could we request more staff in this respect because with the hot weather coming, and if we have 698 unlicensed premises in operation, it could be dangerous to the public health?
CHAIRMAN: Even if we asked for staff and had them approved today, it takes about three years or more to train them.
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MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, are you trying to say that the situation now is impossible to control; we just have to tolerate unlicensed premises as long as we live?
CHAIRMAN: Not at all, Mr. NG. We do our best with the resources we have at our disposal.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: When will the new procedure commence?
MR. LO: We have already agreed to adopt the new procedure. It is in force, but it was only agreed to very recently.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: I think this is a matter which is of interest to Elected Members and Council, and I would appreciate it, Mr. Chairman, if an interim report on the results achieved as a result of this new procedure, say three months from now, could be circulated to the Members of the Standing Committee as a whole.
MR. LO: I will certainly ask the Secretary to prepare such a report.
MOTION.
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, moved the following Motion:
"RESOLVED—
(1) Under Section 59 of the Urban Council Ordinance that the persons whose names are set out in the first column of the attached Schedule shall be the members of the Select Committees detailed for the period up to the commencement of the first meeting of the Urban Council in April, 1971, except that Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN, Mrs. E. ELLIOTT, Mr. Solomon RAFEEK, Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG and Mr. Woo Po-shing, whose respective terms of office as Elected Members expire on 31st March, 1971, shall be members of the relevant Select Committees until that date.
(2) Under Standing Order 22(6) that the Chairman of each Select Committee shall be as set out in the first column of the attached Schedule for the period up to the commencement of the first meeting of the Urban Council in April, 1971, except that Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN, Mrs. E. ELLIOTT, Mr. Solomon RAFEEK, Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG and Mr. Woo Po-shing, whose respective terms of office as Elected Members expire on 31st March, 1971, shall be Chairmen of the relevant Select Committees until that date.
(3) Under Section 60(1) of the Urban Council Ordinance and Section 5(1) of the Resettlement Ordinance that the powers and functions of the Council as set out in the second
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