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DR. HU (in English):-What I say is not specifically done, but they certainly have an overall duty to see the Council's policy to be carried out.
MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):-Mr. Chairman, can I ask the Chairman of the Select Committee for a full report on what is happening there and how many sites are occupied by the same hawker everyday?
DR. HU (in English):-I just cannot give you the full report, just by your Question B(ii), and I would ask you to give me the names of the specific hawkers who occupy 80 sq. ft.
MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I am not asking for an immediate answer. I am asking Mr. Hu to ask the Urban Services Department to report who is occupying these large sites everyday?
DR. HU (in English):-I cannot promise you this because when you ask B(ii), you presume one hawker occupies 20 sites. How can we take what you say unless you give us who actually occupies 20 sites. Then I will ask the Urban Services Department to give you a full report,
MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I have not mentioned 20 sites, I mentioned 8. If Mr. Hu would come with me, I will show him who occupies 8 sites. Would he come?
CHAIRMAN (in English):-I think this question has been fully answered. The main question must not be made the pretext of debate, although I know that Mrs. ELLIOTT's supplementary questions were designed to elicit information. Such information as may be available has been given by the Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee. For the rest, I think whatever information that might have been sought and has not been given will be available at the Hawkers Select Committee meeting.
MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I have been scrupulous in asking questions and not debating. I would like to ask one more question with your permission. On D., "it has been decided to maintain the status quo for the time being", what is meant by the time being? Is it an unqualified period?
DR. HU (in English):-The Standing Committee on 28th October, 1975 has reached this decision. I will read it out: "In the light of the above, the Chairman suggested that the matter should be referred back to the Hawkers Select Committee to reconsider the issue and put their further proposals to the Standing Committee. All Members of the Standing Committee should be invited to the meeting of the Hawkers Select Committee to air their views if they so wish. In the meantime, the status quo would have to be maintained. Members agreed”. I think that is the basis of the answer to Mrs. ELLIOTT's question.
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DR. HU (in English):-For the time being, the other points about the overall hawker policy, e.g. the licensing policy, the policy concerning the Hawker Control Force and the General Duties Teams. These are the matters which are the pre-requisites to be determined before we step into the Hawker Permitted Area business because HPA, so far, in my humble views, is going on very well. We should not disturb it if we have no better measures than the present ones. Therefore we should be careful.
MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I am most concerned about the situation at Tung Choi Street. I am even more concerned about the attitude in giving me answers to these questions. May I ask if this matter could be definitely included on the agenda of the next Hawkers Select Committee?
DR. HU (in English):-Thank you. We certainly will put this on the agenda. As a matter of fact, in any Hawkers Select Committee meeting, there is a last item “Any Other Business", any Member can raise. But since Mrs. ELLIOTT has raised the point, certainly that will be put on the agenda of the next meeting.
MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I have a clarification. I have brought this up under "Any Other Business" when half of the Members have gone and everybody is rushing, may I ask that it to be put on the agenda as an early item?
DR. HU (in English):-Thank you, we will.
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, just two short supplementaries. Can a survey be carried out over a period of a month as to how many hawkers in the Tung Choi Street are occupying the same sites daily and the size of such sites which they occupy, and can such information be made available to the Hawkers Select Committee?
DR. HU (in English):-We have discussed the survey business several times. Once we did survey, the people who were surveyed mistook it and considered that they had a right to be there which they
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