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especially in view of the terms of the original question and in view of the fact that the Commissioner for Resettlement has had to reply to every supplementary.
CHAIRMAN:-The Chairman can call on anyone to answer the questions.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, I have a question that perhaps Dr. CRAIG could answer. The rest rooms at schools, the requirements for water and toilets are much more stringent, for example, 25 persons using one toilet at a school. Why do the Medical Department not make greater demands for these areas?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL & HEALTH SERVICES:-If you wish me to reply, Mr. Chairman, I presume that the standard in schools is higher than in Cottage Areas as such areas are a compromise for housing these people and they are given, I presume, as adequate facilities as possible.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Am I to understand then that private persons are required to give a higher standard than the Government?
CHAIRMAN:-I must again rule your question out of order, Mrs. ELLIOTT.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, on this particular point, is the provision for water supply in the Cottage Areas on the same scale of provision as that for licensed areas?
(The Hon. Director of Social Welfare left the meeting at this point.)
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-The question I imagine refers to toilets?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Water supply.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Water supply, that Mr. Chairman, I could not say. I would need notice of that question.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Could the Commissioner please look into that and put the information to the Select Committee when it is discussed.
(10) MR. H. M. G. FORSGATE asked the following question:-
What progress has been made towards the implementation of the Abattoirs Working Party recommendations, which were approved by the Select Committee in November 1971 and the Standing Committee of the Council in December 1971?
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MR. R. H. LOBO, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS & ABATTOIRS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
Since the Abattoirs Working Party Report was submitted to the Secretariat, the department has been urging acceptance of the proposal for a night shift and also, as far as possible, making the necessary preparatory arrangements for bringing it into effect when approved, including improvements to existing plant and equipment (e.g. lighting, ventilation system, modification of overhead rails connecting cooling rooms, etc.) These improvements have already been approved as a composite Category E item in the Public Works Programme 1972-73 and a number of additional posts for operational relief and leave reserve have been granted by the Finance Committee. In addition, the Principal Government Electrical & Mechanical Engineer has prepared preliminary drawings for further mechanization of various parts of the slaughterline system (as recommended by the Abattoirs Working Party) and the department will seek to include these as an urgent item in the Public Works Programme.
Also, (at the request of the department), the Principal Government Electrical & Mechanical Engineer is studying, in consultation with several specialist firms, the existing equipment and processes of the By-products Plant with a view to its modernization and expansion for maximum efficiency and productivity.
I would like to assure my friend, Mr. FORSGATE, that my Committee and the Department will not slacken the pressure on Government to agree to all the proposals in the report as soon as possible.
MR. FORSGATE:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Mr. LOBO for this reply. I got the impression loud and clear, as chairman of that now defunct committee, that your Department was most anxious for us to deal with this as a matter of urgency, that was in November/December of last year, but the reply does not indicate any urgency on the part of the Secretariat, particularly the urgent question of a night-shift. Can you explain why this should take such a long time to be decided? I can understand the delay in approving capital equipment, and so on, but night-shift requires one man to make up his mind.
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