HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo:-Mr. Chairman, would a sign be prohibited if it obstructs light or air to the occupiers of the building to which the sign is fixed?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, the occupier of the building has always got recourse under the new By-laws to object to a sign being put up. In the past experience of the Select Committee has been that such objections have not been upheld. I know of one particular case which the Select Committee took up, nevertheless, on the grounds of health and for other reasons the Select Committee and other Government departments have intervened over particular type of advertisement to prevent it being allowed in Hong Kong.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, this question of revised advertisement By-laws has been dragging on within this Council for more than ten years already. Would you be good enough, Sir, to report at the next meeting of the Standing Committee of the Whole when the Legal Department expects to finish its first draft.
MR. SALES: ---Mr. Chairman, on a point of clarification, not over ten years, over 15 years. (Laughter).
CHAIRMAN:-I shall make the necessary enquiries.
MR. PETER P. K. NG:-Mr. Chairman, on a point of clarification, can Mr. SALES explain or define to us what he means by "dangerous", dangerous in contents or dangerous structurally?
MR. SALES:—Mr. Chairman, may I with your permission suggest that Mr. P. K. Ng, as an authorized architect and structural engineer should not have put that question to me in public. He had ample opportunity to use his professional training and experience when this matter was discussed in Select Committee and it is reasonable to assume that his experience has been put to good use in the public interest.
MR. NG:-Well, Mr. Chairman, I am asking also whether it is dangerous because of its contents.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, may I explain that your Department consulted a number of departments including the Public Works Department and the matter rests with the Building Authority as to whether a sign is dangerous or not, even at the present time, so if the Building Authority is satisfied and the sign is allowed to be put up it is again reasonable to assume that it is not dangerous.
MR. KAN:-I think we can put it from another angle, whether the sign is dangerous from a moral angle?
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I would like to answer that question. (Laughter). In the past when such a sign has appeared in Tsim Sha Tsui, the Ward Councillors concerned have drawn the attention of one of your predecessors and although he could not object to the sign on moral grounds he did object to the sign on amenity grounds and I suggest that in the future you exercise your discretion in that way too, Sir, and perhaps Mr. Raymond KAN might like to help us by pointing out which signs could be condemned on amenity, if not on moral grounds.
(9) MR. PETER C. K. CHAN asked the following question:-
I have received complaints from ladies of Mark II Blocks, particularly in Tung Tau Estate complaining about the damage of the main door of their public or communal bathroom and the lack of doors for the separate bathing compartment.
(a) Has the Resettlement Department repaired the main door already?
(b) Is anything going to be done about putting up doors for the separate bathing compartment?
MR. HENRY H. L. HU, CHAIRMAN OF THE RESETTLEMENT MANAGEMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
The answer to the first part of the question is that the main door referred to has been repaired.
The answer to the second part of the question is that the department is looking into the feasibility of putting doors on every individual compartment in every female bathroom in all Mark I and II blocks.
There are 1,673 female bathrooms in these blocks and 11,000 compartments in all. The cost is likely to be in the order of $750,000.
MR. C. K. CHAN:-May I ask, perhaps you will rule it out of order, do we have the same number of male bathrooms as well?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:—I need notice of that question.
MR. C. K. CHAN:-Perhaps this supplementary is in order. Has the Department decided to recommend to the Government or the committee that these compartment doors be installed?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Sir, a decision has not actually been made but I should like to say a general word about the two questions; one Mrs. ELLIOTT asked concerning toilets and one concerning bathrooms. I think we do recognize that the complaints that
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