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do not. The point is that there are other sections of the community who do not like to have more hawkers. So we should be very careful towards surveys. But since Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has raised this point, certainly we will look into it when we discuss Mrs. ELLIOTT's proposal at the Hawkers Select Committee.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN (in English):-I fully subscribe to the points made by Mr. Hu and I presume that the survey can be carried out in a more discreet manner. My second supplementary is, since the hawker sites in the urban areas are in such short supply, will the Hawkers Select Committee review as soon as possible the existing policy in the Hawker Permitted Areas and see whether it is practicable to adopt a “one hawker, one site" policy and to make its recommendation to the Standing Committee of the Whole.
DR. HU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's view is that only in the Hawker Permitted Areas, "one site, one person"! Is that your question?
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English): -Perhaps I might be more specific. If it is possible to review the policy pertaining to all HPAs, that would be good. If not, may I mention to the Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee I am thinking, particularly, about Tung Choi Street.
DR. HU (in English):-Yes, we will look into it when we discuss it at the Hawkers Select Committee.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a personal statement as the Chairman of the Hawker Appeals Sub-Committee. Certain appeals from hawkers in Tung Choi Street came before the Select Committee in general on the last meeting and we did make certain recommendations. One recommendation, in particular, will be considered at the next meeting of the Hawkers Select Committee.
MR. TSIN SAI-NIN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee several questions. The first one is A(ii). Aside from certain exceptions, why are there exceptions? What is meant by "limited exceptions" and secondly on A(iii) it states that the Urban Council and the Urban Services Department have not received any complaints. According to the Ward Office, I alone have written more than ten letters to the Urban Services Department complaining about the situation, but I have not received any replies. I do not know why the Urban Services Department has not received any complaints. And B(i) and (ii) state that we do not force one hawker to occupy only one site. If there are 8 sites, then the hawker can expand his business, is this Urban Council policy? Do we allow hawkers to expend their business in the HPAs? If a person of influence expands his business to cover the whole HPA, then what will arise? If we do not want this person to do this, how can we stop him. Fourthly as to the question of finance, Mr. Hu says that in Tung Choi Street alone, the daily expenditure is $3,237. This is not a great amount, but if we calculate it according to one year, then it is over 1 million dollars. If this is the situation in all HPAs, then our expenditure will amount to over ten million dollars, is this excessive? And the last item is what is meant by "cordon sanitaire"? Do we keep all hawkers from these areas? What is stated in our legislation on this point? Perhaps Mr. Hu would like to clarify?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR. HU (in English):--Those exceptions are the hawkers who were originally in the Hawker Permitted Areas. They had a site before we declared the area to be the Hawker Permitted Area. They are the few exceptions mentioned in para. A(ii). Second point Mr. TSIN said about complaints. He said that he alone had written 10 letters. I would be very pleased if he could let me know about the letters, then we could look into the matter and give Mr. TSIN a careful answer. Thirdly Mr. Tsin said about hawkers occupying many sites, whether we should prevent it or not. Certainly we should prevent it, but at the same time, the Hawker Permitted Area's original intention is to have minimum control. About Mr. TSIN's fourth question of $3,237 per day, that, of course, is about $1M a year. In my estimates, I might be wrong, but this is a reasonable expenditure for controlling hawkers. At the same time, because of countering the expenditure, we increase hawker fees already. Fifthly, "cordon sanitaire" is not a legal term. It is just a customary term that is to keep the Hawker Permitted Area within a certain place, not expanding beyond that area. That is the purpose of "cordon sanitaire".
CHAIRMAN (in English):-I think this matter has been sufficiently discussed under Standing Order No. 12, Section 14. May I have your agreement to move to the next question.
(2) MR. PETER P. F. CHAN asked the following question (in English):
May I know the policy of the Council on accepting donations from members of the community who wish to support or sponsor some capital projects, small or large, planned by the Council?
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