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provided; whether the U.C. provides sufficient and efficient management services at beaches; and what the U.C. is doing about noise nuisance and environmental pollution caused by youths at Repulse Bay Beach and in its vicinity.

This is a long question and I will try to give a concise answer. Urban Council beaches are, firstly, provided with an efficient life-saving service during the swimming season. This life-saving service is supplemented during holidays and at weekends with additional lifeguards and the able assistance of various swimming associations and other volunteers.

Secondly, we provide the services to facilitate beach-goers to make good use of the beach. These services include changing-rooms, refreshment kiosks, showers and toilets. Whether these facilities are sufficient and whether our management services are efficient is a matter of judgement; but I believe that we have got it about right and that our beaches are indeed well managed and do provide a very high standard of service for the many thousands of people who use them.

Turning to noise and pollution which have been the source of recent complaints at Repulse Bay, perhaps I could say that, given the enormous crowds which flock to this popular beach, it is hardly surprising that complaints are made. The fact is that happy people are often noisy people. But we do take steps to enforce the By-laws wherever possible--and this includes taking action against noise when it is obviously annoying--but we do try to do so using a common sense approach. During the last swimming season about 300 notices were served to the offenders who caused noises at beaches in the urban area. As far as environmental pollution is concerned, I don't think the problems in Repulse Bay or any other urban beaches really rate this description. Certainly there is litter (but this is usually quickly cleared) but I don't deny that there is some smoke and smell from the barbecue pits which are immediately adjacent to several other facilities including the beach itself. These pits are very popular and we have had to balance their popularity against the difficulties they cause of mess, noise and smell. On balance, we have concluded that they are in the wrong place and will remove them at the end of the present swimming season.

MR. JOSEPH CHAN (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, recently at Repulse Bay, the Police had provided additional information pointing out that during holidays in the evenings, over a thousand people enjoy barbecuing there. At present, the Urban Council provides about sixty barbecue pits, but people are using over a hundred pits altogether, so many are not being provided by the Urban Council but are being rented out by business organizations and other people. So, is it permitted that these barbecue pits are rented out to beach-goers at Urban Council management beaches? This is my first question.

CHAIRMAN (in English):--Could you answer this one first, Mr. Lo?

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MR. KENNETH LO (in English):--Mr. Chairman, at present, barbecuing on the beach itself, except on the barbecue pits is prohibited. However, it seems to me under the present legislation that there is nothing to stop people taking barbecue equipment and using it off the beach; whether this equipment is hired or owned by the user himself, seems to be immaterial, that is a very difficult thing to control.

MR. JOSEPH CHAN (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, I am not satisfied by Mr. Lo's reply to the first question, is it permitted to allow the merchants to rent the barbecue pits to the beach-goers, if not, what enforcement action will be taken?

MR. KENNETH LO (in English):--In my previous reply, it seems to me that the hiring out of barbecue equipment is not in itself prohibited under the present law, and there is, therefore, nothing to stop people from doing so, except that they cannot actually barbecue on the beach itself within the gazetted area of the beach.

MR. JOSEPH CHAN (in Cantonese):--In other words, Mr. Chairman, all our beaches will permit people to rent out barbecue pits and equipment but I will seek further clarification, if it is permitted, then in future people would rent barbecue pits and the situation would be beyond control, people would bring along barbecue pits and rent to others. Also once this becomes publicly known, very often, people would know that it is a good business, and it will be booming. My other question is I was informed that pits would be removed at Repulse Bay, as at present there is the noise pollution, what will the Urban Council do to reduce and control the noise pollution?

Mr. Kenneth Lo (in English):--Mr. Chairman, if I may be permitted, first of all, to comment on the first part of Mr. CHAN's statement. I do not think I can detect any element of the question concerning the barbecuing on the beach, I would emphasize again, I think barbecuing on the sand of the beach within the gazetted area of the beach is prohibited, but the hiring out of the barbecuing equipment and the taking of barbecuing equipment to the vicinity near the beach but not within the area of the beach, seems to me not to be prohibited. As regards to the question of noise, that is not going to be an easy one. We do warn them not to make too much noise but at present the position is that, someone has to be annoyed by the noise made by the radios, the sound equipment and so on, actually on the beach, before anything can be done. For instance, if the residents of nearby buildings are annoyed in their buildings, that is not sufficient, they have got to go down to the beach, stand on the beach and be annoyed there and make a complaint before we can start any action. Anything further than that will need a legislative amendment.

Mr. Joseph Chan (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, the excessive noise is usually caused by radios brought along by beach-goers. What effective measures will the Urban Council take?