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CHAIRMAN:-I think we can proceed under the main ordinance under Section 59(1) where we have authority to go into these places and inspect them.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, what do you say, which Ordinance?
CHAIRMAN:-The main Ordinance, the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, Section 59(1).
MR. HU:-Thank you very much.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Are they visited regularly, Mr. Chairman?
CHAIRMAN:-Again, I couldn't say.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Could you look into that, please?
MR. CHAIRMAN: ---Certainly.
MRS. C. J. SYMONS: Mr. Chairman, before I ask Question 17 standing in my name, may I thank you for your remarks early on.
(17) MRS. C. J. SYMONS asked the following question:
(a) What liaison is there between the Urban Services Department and other departments in the observation and reporting of the phenomenon "red tide"?
(b) What information is there that the phenomenon can be controlled, diverted or destroyed?
(c) If some positive action can be undertaken, will Government consider this threat as a matter of priority?
MR. A. de O. SALES, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION AND AMENITIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
The answer to the first part of this question is that the Recreation and Amenities Division has within the department maintained liaison with the Assistant Director (Hygiene), and externally with the Fisheries Research Division of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, two authorities at the universities, the Marine Department, the Fire Services Department, and the Government Information Services. In addition, a helicopter flight to survey the extent of pollution of the Colony's waters was made on 21st June. The department has been seriously concerned to establish how harmful the organisms are, to find out whether there is any way of destroying or dispersing them, and to keep the public fully informed. Since the organism was identified on the evening of June 19th, frequent statements have been made through the press and other publicity media, and through the Government Information Services. A twice daily bulletin to the Government Information Services on the situation at the beaches as at approximately 8 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. has been in operation since 21st June, and, over the weekend 26th-27th June, a noon bulletin was also issued in addition. Up to the morning of June 28th when this reply was written there had been no reports on red tide since the morning of June 25th. There are thus grounds for hoping that the phenomenon has now disappeared.
The answer to the second part of the question is that the authorities are agreed that the best way of dealing with the phenomenon is to leave it to Nature: given a change in the direction of the wind and currents, or changes in the salinity and temperature of the water the organisms would either disappear or die off by themselves. The department has been advised that the use of chemicals to kill these organisms would be harmful to other marine life and possibly also to human beings. The Marine Department has stated that its oil booms would be unsuitable for surrounding patches of the organisms and moving them away; the Fire Services Department has stated that it would be impracticable to use a fire boat to wash the organisms onto the shore where they would die; while the department's own experiment of pumping the organisms out of the water proved abortive.
All the authorities are also agreed that the Noctiluca organisms are of minimal harmfulness to man, although, in some cases, swimming in contaminated patches could produce temporary irritation of the skin, eyes, or mucous membranes. The main shell fish and marine fish producing areas have throughout remained unaffected by the red tide, and one of the authorities in our Universities has pointed out that Noctiluca has not been definitely linked with fish kills elsewhere in the world.
MRS. SYMONS:-Thank you very much, Mr. SALES.
(18) MRS. C. J. SYMONS asked the following question:
(a) How many children in resettlement estates are below the age of 6?
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