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keeping
Since the end of 1982, the General Duties Team has concentrated on order near the markets and in the designated areas under the Re-ordering Scheme to prevent the unlicensed hawkers from competing with the licensed ones and the stalls in the markets. At present, the General Duties Team consists of 12 units with a total strength of 1910 men.
There are at least two aspects that require our urgent attention: (a) At present, those hawking in public housing estates are under the jurisdiction of the Housing Department. The Council should act as quickly as possible to devise with the Housing Department a common policy in regard to the efficient control of all hawkers.
(b) For the time being, the police are still largely responsible for prosecuting hawkers who cause obstruction on the main roads. When the General Duties Team has enough men, it should strengthen its control of the itinerant and unlicensed hawkers at busy traffic points.
Markets
There are 51 markets under the management of the Urban Council, 27 on Hong Kong Island and 24 in Kowloon.
The new markets built in 1983 include the Aberdeen Market, Fat Kwok Street Cooked Food Centre, and Tung Yuen Street Cooked Food Centre as well as the Centre Street Market Extension.
It is envisaged that 6 markets and cooked food centres will be built this year and 2 more next year.
On account of the shortage of markets, the Urban Council must find ways to restrict the number of hawkers and to control on-street hawking so that they will not cause too much traffic obstruction as well as inconvenience to residents in the neighbourhood.
It is expected that the Council will suffer deficits in the next few years and hope that the building of more markets will not be delayed because of this constraint.
Outdoor Recreational Programmes
The Urban Council provided 1002 programmes of outdoor recreation in 1983, attracting a total of 1,300,000 people.
These programmes included the Summer Fun Festival with 70,000 residents participating, the 8th Asian Arts Festival with an audience of over 10,000 and the Council's Centenary Celebration Carnival which attracted 55,000 spectators.
In addition, the traditional programmes organized by the Council have also proved very popular. The Mid-Autumn Lantern Festivals held in the Victoria Park and Kowloon Park attracted 230,000 people and the 21 district-based lantern festivals, supported by the Urban Council, held in various districts in Hong Kong and Kowloon, over 200,000.
In 1983, apart from those programmes regularly held each year, such as variety shows, music, drama, acrobatic shows, and dances etc., overseas artists and performing troupes were also invited to give open-air performances in Hong Kong, for the free enjoyment of the residents. Special efforts were made in the following directions:
(a) To organize more programmes and activities for children and young people.
(b) To organize the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival for the first time.
(c) To organize a number of big programmes in celebration of the Council's Centenary.
(d) To continue to look for more new venues for holding entertainment programmes. Since April 1983 the Ko Shan Theatre has become a popular entertainment venue.
(e) To continue to support cultural entertainment programmes in various districts.
(f) To invite the District Boards and other organizations to participate in the Council's programmes and activities.
(g) To organize entertainment programmes in all the 10 administrative districts in the urban areas every month.
(h) To boost both the quantity and quality of the programmes organized.
The Council has spent $8,196,000 in 1983 in providing these entertainment programmes without which the public would not have the opportunity to enjoy such excellent, free entertainment and the children and young people too would find their holidays much less colourful.
Mr. Chairman, with these words, I support the motion before Council.
MRS. GRACE HO (in English):- Mr. Chairman, this Annual Debate on the Statement of Aims for the Council for 1984 breaks all Councils' records in the number of Councillors who will be speaking—15 today and another 13 on the 12 January 1984, a total of 28. Since I am the 12th speaker today, I shall try not to prolong proceedings beyond the regulation 15 minutes allotted to each of us.
As Chairman of the Museums Select Committee I would like to report on the aims and work of this Committee which has responsibility for the three Museums of Art, History and Science and for the planning of a temporary Science Museum. Throughout the past year we have continued our established policy of free admission to the three Museums. There had been suggestions to recover part of the costs of mounting prestigious exhibitions from overseas by charging admission. I personally feel that this is wrong, because this deters the very people we wish to reach. Museums enrich the lives of our people by opening up their minds not only to their own, but to other civilizations, their
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