# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
# STATEMENT BY MRS. ELSIE TU, CHAIRMAN OF THE WORKING PARTY TO REVIEW HAWKER AND RELATED POLICIES
She said (in English):—Mr. Chairman, the Hawker Policy Review is still in its consultative stage. This began on 13 December 1985 with the publication of ‘A Consultative Document on Hawker and Market Policies', and it is expected to end in June 1986.
2. The Working Party has given individual briefings to all district boards, and has received the views of all but one. That is my own, unfortunately.
3. A further ten meetings have been arranged, and 6 more have yet to be arranged, for the Working Party to discuss the Consultative Document with representatives of Government departments, hawker associations, retail associations, commerce associations, USD staff associations, and other interested groups and individuals.
4. The Hawker Policy Review is part of a two-pronged effort to propose realistic and practicable improvements in the management of hawking. Alongside the policy review, which is an Urban Council initiative, and I should add originally proposed by Mr. Walter SULKE, there is a concurrent Hawker Control Operations Review, examining all aspects of hawker control, which is an Urban Services Department initiative.
5. It is hoped that the policy review and the operations review can be completed and submitted to the Markets and Street Traders Select Committee at the same time, perhaps in September this year.
6. The Hawker Policy Review is itself a two-pronged effort. It proposes improvements on the two broad fronts of enforcement and licensing.
7. The Consultative Document devoted the whole of Chapter 3 to enforcement and the whole of Chapter 4 to licensing. Other aspects of the hawker problem, notably the viability of markets, were also considered, of course, but as far as hawkers themselves are concerned the main thrust of the Consultative Document is improved enforcement and the limited re-opening of licensing.
8. Unfortunately, a small number of people have misunderstood the Working Party's proposals and some misconceptions have arisen and even been mentioned in the press. Perhaps I may take this opportunity to correct these misconceptions.
9. We do not propose ways and means of getting rid of all illegal hawkers. That would be fraught with immense practical difficulties and enormous social and political consequences. But we do propose ways and means to improve the situation, particularly in a small number of priority areas in each district.
# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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10.
11. We do not propose to license all illegal hawkers. That would produce impossible congestion and chaos in our busiest thoroughfares. But we do propose re-opening licensing on a limited basis; that is to say, insofar as we can find suitable, viable, and publicly acceptable sites.
11. We do not propose to push the Council's responsibility for the management of hawkers onto district boards. That would be unfair, impracticable, and ultra vires. But we do propose that district boards should be invited to give us advice, particularly about the numbers and sites for hawkers and markets that they consider right for their districts.
12. So far, in the consultative process, the majority of people have understood our proposals, and the response to our request for comment and criticism has been good.
13. Since the whole purpose of the Consultative Document was to invite criticism of the proposals made in it, we are not at all disappointed, on the contrary we are very happy, with the interest it has generated and the amount of critical comment received.
14. The best and most useful comments have come from those who have obviously taken the time, trouble, and mental effort required to read and understand the Consultative Document (for the hawker problem and all its implications is a complex matter).
15. The least useful comments--and there have been a few--have come from people who appeared not to have read the Consultative Document. They appeared to have relied on hear-say, and having seized upon one or more of the misconceptions I have just described, spent their energy arguing at length against something that we had not proposed!
16. In some instances the Consultative Document has had an unfortunate side-effect, in that people have attempted to 'stake a claim' to 'hawker status' or to a more viable pitch, in the hope of being recognised when the Working Party's recommendations are implemented. But we know what they are up to, and such tricks are unlikely to help them when the time comes. And in the meantime the General Duties Teams will continue to take action against them under the existing policies.
# STATEMENT BY MR. CHAN CHI-KWAN, PETER, CHAIRMAN OF THE LIQUOR LICENSING BOARD
He said (in Cantonese):—I wish to report on the work of the Liquor Licensing Board in the last financial year, a period which I believe to be the most