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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, with respect, my question is still not answered, whether the assertion is true or not? About this important change in policy, the hawkers associations are not informed or consulted.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: It is not true, Mr. Chairman, because in this respect this is a variation of policy, and as such there did not seem to be any need on the part of the Management or the Policy Committee, or even on the part of the department, to consult all the hawkers associations in Hong Kong.
MR. C. K. CHAN: Mr. Chairman, may I ask on a point of information. I have studied this question and answer. I have also interviewed quite a number of the leading members of these 10 hawkers associations, and I would say that on this kind of information I have quite some knowledge. Succession is one of the most controversial matters among the hawkers appeals, and of course Mr. BERNACCHI, Mrs. ELLIOTT, and myself on this Committee have.
CHAIRMAN: Mr. CHAN, are you making a personal statement, or asking a supplementary question?
MR. C. K. CHAN: No, I am giving a point of clarification, which Mr. Henry Hu is asking - assertion, whether this is made known - well, all these questions of succession, the complications, are made known to the Committee. I think we all try to work out a very fine solution, but I think this question is not very clear and the answer is not very clear, perhaps we can have a very thorough discussion on succession again with specific topics. Just with one point, the question of succession again.
MR. LO TAK-SHING: This is a motion? (Laughter).
MR. C. K. CHAN: No, may I just move that this question be referred to the Hawker Management Committee.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: For clarification on that, as I stated in the last paragraph of my reply, action is being taken by the department to clarify, for the benefit of the Hawker Management Select Committee, what constitutes "exceptional and deserving circumstances", and I do believe that since this paper will be circulated very shortly to the Policy Committee, no further action can be taken for the time being. As I understand it, the department has been working on this for the past 10 days or so, and as I said in the last sentence of my reply, it will be discussed at this month's Hawker Policy Select Committee meeting.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, before Mr. CHAN's explanation, as a matter of fact Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN, the Chairman of the Hawker Select Committee, already answered my question. He said there is a variation from time to time and there is no need to inform them, so that his answer to this question of mine is "no, they are not informed". My second question was that, if so, why were they not informed or consulted, and Mr. CHEONG-LEEN says that there is no need for that. I accept his explanation to the question. Mr. Chairman, I would again put the question, which has not been answered by Mr. CHEONG-LEEN. What are the differences between the past policies and the present ones concerning the above matters, i.e. concerning the cancellation of hawkers licences and the distribution of the hawkers stalls, and concerning the succession of cooked food stalls and fixed pitch stalls.
CHAIRMAN: I would say, Mr. Hu, that is an entirely new question, and I do not think we are ready at this stage to make this known. In good time, in our good time, we shall make known the changes in policy but, Mr. Hu, you are now asking for specific differences, specific changes; this we are not prepared to give at this stage.
MR. BERNACCHI: But, Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, this question is very clear. What are the differences between past policies and present ones concerning the above matters?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, with your permission, I would be happy to answer that question. The differences are so complex that if I were to give them in detail at this meeting, we'd probably be sitting here until midnight. So may I, with your permission, request that the Secretary should send the relevant papers which would give in detail what are the differences, and I would even suggest that the past Chairman of the Hawker Policy Committee, my colleague, Mr. BERNACCHI, who was the Chairman when the new policy was formulated prior to April 1969, could be most helpful to Mr. Henry Hu in this respect. So could the Secretary be kind enough to collect all the relevant papers showing the differences between previous policy and existing policy under the new Hawker Policy, and have them sent to Mr. Henry Hu for his consideration?
MR. SALES: Might I suggest that it might be put in tabulated form too?
MR. BERNACCHI: I rise on a personal matter. The subject matter of Mr. Hu's question have all been changed since I gave up that particular chairmanship.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: They have not all been changed, Mr. Chairman, I have in my pocket a copy of the press release which was made on May 6th last year, and essentially this policy is virtually what was agreed upon at the time Mr. BERNACCHI gave up Chairmanship of the Hawker Policy Select Committee.
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