Page 159 of 242
298
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
of the physical dangers to the staff members since I, too, am the recipient of threatening telephone calls and letters.
It is true, too, that there is a leakage somewhere within the Department and between departments. To cite: recently, someone was appointed to a particular post. However, before this was made known, I received an anonymous letter warning me of grave physical harm to the appointee and suggesting that I should persuade a change of mind or be morally responsible.
Letters and telephone calls from interested parties referring to information on investigation and matters of a restricted (and confidential) nature are common occurrences.
These are the more overt forms of pressure. There are others, perhaps more invidious and more difficult to deal with. These are the pressures from those with vested interests to defend and pursue, either for commercial or political reasons. These pressures are generated not only by those with profits in mind but also others with popularity in mind.
I am not being obstructive or unsympathetic when I point out that every situation has its harmful exceptions, where genuine hardship or suffering is involved in implementing a policy, yet where the overall good of the majority requires firm and impartial action. Where these individual cases arise, we shall do our best to give them every sympathetic consideration, but under no circumstances should they be allowed to undermine the policy and Councillors should refrain from interfering or intervening. On the one hand, such interference raises false hopes on the part of the hawkers who are unwilling, for whatever reason, to move; and, on the other hand, it can only delay the Council's and the Department's approved programme. To make the ensuing confusion worse confounded, the particular situation requesting review usually generates more problems with delay and discussions, and everyone, including the hawker, suffers more.
Like the proverbial pudding which is tested by eating, we can, with modest pride, point out that our efforts in past years have now resulted in a fair, reasonable and workable policy, with increasing Government support and understanding.
The Council have succeeded in several major operations: progress has been made by the Hawker Liaison Units; there have been satisfactory resolutions of a number of policy issues by select committees; more realistic and attractive terms of service have been recommended by the Salaries Commission for the Hawker Control Force, but not yet approved; a promising start has been made to provide more sites for off-street hawker bazaars, and so on, but more and quicker action has
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
299
to be taken in these and other areas. Unlike the long-suffering motorist, who has been warned of further restrictions, the hawker can park almost anywhere he likes and there are people of the opinion that he should be allowed to do so.
Until we have similarly defined areas, planned on a just and equitable basis for hawkers and public alike, with appropriate legislation to enforce observance, we are going to have the related problems of litter and pollution, corruption and drug trafficking, street congestion and traffic confusion. Yet justice must be tempered with mercy, and adequate alternative provisions must be made for those whose sole livelihood it is and who, in many instances, make a real and often valuable contribution to the local community.
Sir, I must now turn to the matter of Markets which comes also under my Chairmanship.
I have been emphasizing over the years that markets are big business and, as such, must be managed accordingly. We continue, despite repeated calls for changes in by-laws and revision of present "Modus Operandi", to live in the past, with out-dated and out-moded systems.
We have succeeded in having a certain measure of expansion with the creation of new markets and new designs. For example, the concept of "modular markets" in resettlement estates is imaginative, although care will have to be taken that what is promising in concept is not abused in implementation, since it could easily lend itself to exploitation by unscrupulous elements.
It is unbelievable that certain absurdities are not removed through lack of initiative. For instance, dogs are allowed to roam and sleep within the trading area of the market where meat is exposed whilst barred from pleasure playgrounds and beaches.
Markets are created for the benefit of housewives and shoppers and not as wholesale distribution points. This, I find hard to convince certain sections of the Department, where everything is "But the book does not say so" or "We must ask the store-holder for his opinion and co-operation."
I am glad that we are now on the same wave-length as others in that it has been recognized that we must make the best use of the land made available for markets to meet other needs of the community as well.
But, unless there is a determined effort to review and revise our by-laws, the whole exercise will be useless. What I have in mind, in particular, is that both management and inspectors must be provided
Page 159 of 242