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2. This has again been a year in which Hong Kong has been free of major epidemics, and the World Health Organization now regards Hong Kong as being non-receptive to cholera. That is to say water and food produced here for consumption are so protected and our personal hygiene has reached a stage that even if a case of cholera were introduced into Hong Kong, it is unlikely to be able to spread to any extent in our community. The Council's past achievements in general hygiene, in the control of food and food premises and health education, have contributed much towards this satisfactory state but constant vigilance and continuing efforts are required to ensure that the Public's Health is protected and that diseases which are the result of poor personal or environmental hygiene are prevented.
3. To remind the Council what still has to be achieved, I should like to point out that last year in the urban areas, 297 cases of typhoid, 442 cases of bacillary dysentery, and 48 cases of amoebiasis were notified. Although these totals continue to show an annual decrease, all of them could have been prevented if there had been a better standard of personal and environmental hygiene. The importance of safe food and water can never be overstated and it is the Council's responsibility to ensure that these are completely protected from preparation to consumption.
4. The Statements of Aims under the headings Food Hygiene and Food Premises must be implemented with all vigour with the maintenance and improvement of safety standards for food and drink. There must be no attempt to lower standards to meet the practicalities of the moment. The requirements and conditions of licensing must be dictated by safety and health and not by constructional convenience. The improvements of personal cleanliness and hygiene and the raising of standards of the food and catering trades envisaged in our aims under the heading Health Education will certainly help to reduce the incidence of enteric diseases in our community.
5. The forthcoming campaign "Keep Hong Kong Clean" is quite a challenge for the Council and the extent of its success must surely reflect the support that each and all of us can give and the response of the general public to the Council's authority.
6. There is no doubt that tougher legislation against litterers and litter would improve the prospects for the campaign though, of course, such legislation must be accompanied by improved facilities for collection and disposal of litter as envisaged by the Campaign Committee. Readily available and adequate litter bins must be sited conveniently in our street and parks and must not be let overflow at peak usage times, but collection and disposal so arranged to meet the extra demands of meal times and holidays.
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Paradoxically the insanitary habit of littering is partially a development of hygienically wrapped food for consumption and the plastic bag and paper wrappings which were designed to protect our food from contamination now choke our streets with litter. Each food shop, stall or hawker must be required to supply sufficient refuse bins to ensure the customer means of disposal of the wrappings immediately after purchase.
8. The campaign, of course, must not be looked upon as a once and for all effort but merely as a step in the continuous battle to prevent deterioration in our environment and to improve the surroundings in which we live and work, crowded together in one of the highest population densities of the world. It is a continuous educative and adaptive process involving every one of us, in which we are trained and conditioned to meet the requirements of modern urban life. Health education in its broadest sense is what this is all about and the oncoming generation must be brought up and trained for life in present day Hong Kong for which the habits and customs of their younger days have so poorly prepared the present older generation.
9. In their comments on Environmental Pollution, with particular reference to the "Keep Hong Kong Clean" Campaign, several members emphasised the need for effective legislation to combat litter-louts. I am happy to say that recent proposals by the Legal Department are aimed at providing such effectiveness, in the form of legal powers to require a person, outside whose premises litter is found, to remove that litter and to keep his environs clear of litter thereafter, on threat of prosecution.
10. In his absence, I should like to congratulate Mr. FORSGATE on his Chairmanship in the new Advisory Committee on Land and Water Pollution, and I am sure that the Urban Services Department would welcome his Committee's suggestions in matters related to or affecting the Urban Services Department's responsibilities, particularly in the forthcoming "Keep Hong Kong Clean” Campaign.
11. Mr. P. K. NG and Mr. Charles SIN commented on the unsatisfactory condition at certain refuse collection points. In Hong Kong occupiers are required under the law to bring their refuse to the vehicle and in many places occupiers employ private refuse collectors. In the main, these collectors are responsible for the unsatisfactory conditions at the refuse collection points and continually offend against the relevant By-laws. An average of 50 of them are prosecuted each month for breaking the law.
12. The provision of covered containers or trailers in open streets for the deposit of refuse is not practicable due to the size of the containers or the trailers which would be required and the obstruction they would cause.
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