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Recently, however, it has gone beyond this. Last October, a Race Meeting scheduled for a Saturday had been postponed because of a typhoon. It was quickly re-scheduled to mid-week, despite the fact that a first division Football match was scheduled at the same time at the Hong Kong Stadium. This resulted in the football match having to be postponed. How are these things possible? Simply because when it comes to any argument, the Jockey Club can outgun any other organization. I call upon the Jockey Club to be more considerate in the future in the use of its undoubted power and influence.
Finally I would like to express a few thoughts about hawkers. I have not been on the Hawkers Select Committee for some years, and cannot claim to be familiar with all its problems. When it comes to hawkers, it is not possible to come up with a solution satisfactory to all concerned. Certainly, I have no such solution. However, after pondering over opinions I have heard expressed, I think there are certain misconceptions which I would like to point out. The first misconception is that a licence to hawk is a means of dispensing social welfare. While this may be true of certain special categories of hawkers, such as newspaper vendors, it is quite untrue of the ordinary hawker. To succeed, the hawker has to be physically fit and mentally agile. A suitable recipient of social welfare who is either physically or mentally handicapped simply cannot be successful in business as a hawker. That is why there are so many cases of licences being let out to other persons to operate.
In the last year or two, there has been much talk of hawking being a buffer against economic recession. How this can be so passes my comprehension. Hawking is a service industry. The hawker supplies food and other consumer goods. The demand for this is fairly steady and, if anything, it decreases in hard times. If during this time, there is a big influx of hawkers, how are they all to make a living?
The only way to cope with the problem is to regard hawking as a service industry, as a business. Their numbers should be controlled and their activities regulated so as to cause the least possible amount of litter and uncleanliness, and inconvenience to the general public.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I support the motion before the Council.
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG (in Cantonese): - Mr. Chairman,
LAW AND ORDER
In recent years, the public is most concerned about the deteriorating state of law and order in Hong Kong. Just as usual, we pay our rates every year when they are due, but our lives and property are becoming less and less secure.
Crimes of violence occur every day. Unless the report is uniquely made, it will no longer have any news value. People have become so numb that when a rob-and-kill or murder case occurs they will only say, "one more case".
What we should think deeply about is why is it that in Hong Kong, which community comprises predominantly of Chinese people who are traditionally well-known for their law-abiding quality, has become what Japanese tourists describe to-day as the "Heaven of the Robbers"?
My personal opinions are:-
(i) (a) The anti-violent crime policy deals with the consequences but not the causes, and thus makes it difficult to achieve any success. The Government has gone very strong in setting up the "Anti-violent Crime Committee” and is making arrangements for its expansion, but has never seriously tried to eradicate the causes of evil. It can be said that the Government even encourages them. How, then, can we expect to see any success in any anti-violent crime exercise? It is generally known that in Hong Kong very few of the offenders in violent crimes took the risks they did because they lacked food or clothing. The main cause of crime has been related to sex and gambling.
(b) Licentious places are everywhere in the city and they openly attract people to go there by putting advertisements in the newspapers. But the authorities concerned have never dealt with them seriously. Besides, obscene publications flood the markets. Although, as a result of public outcry, the situation is daunted a little, it never dies out by prohibition.
(c) About gambling, there is already a race-course, stock market and commodity exchange for those who are fond