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private lane or the lane is possessed by the Urban Council? Can I further ask why say up to last Sunday, that the USD or the Urban Council has already decided to move all this kind of litterbins to the area called Government Printer's Building. Why up to last Sunday and they ought to have to discover it much much earlier?
DR. LEUNG (in English):—I cannot answer for the owner of this lane but whatever it is, it is a public place, at least a place accessible to the public and this should be kept clean. The second part of the question is why the litterbins were removed. The original policy was to use it as a transit point, as my answer pointed out, awaiting collection by the maintenance contractors for the repair and repaint of the litterbins. With the effort from our Committee, the Department was persuaded that some other more desirable storage points can be made available and such was made available and this is the answer to why these litterbins were removed to the North Point Government Printer's Building depot.
MR. KWAN (in English): My final supplementary question in respect of Part (c) of his answer. Dr. Leung said that arrangements have been made to divert part of the refuse previously in the RCP and then one to Shaukiwan and how come that there would be delay until the question is being asked and they begin to divert this kind of refuse to Shaukiwan Main Street?
DR. LEUNG (in English):---As Mr. KWAN knows that in the area there is a market and some larger accumulation of illegal hawkers in the neighbourhood, the amount of refuse produced will be enormous. So in order to relieve the burden of refuse collection on this particular RCP, a diversion must be made for some part of the refuse to be collected in some other RCPs in order to make way for the refuse collection vehicles to be parked 100 per cent within the RCP.
STATEMENT BY MR. PETER C. K. CHAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE LIQUOR LICENSING BOARD
He said (in Cantonese):-Concern has been expressed to this Board by the organization Parents Against Alcohol for Children-Hong Kong over the question of young people under the age of 18 being served alcohol.
The Liquor Licensing Board, in discharging its responsibilities for the licensing of urban premises which sell or supply liquor for consumption, is equally mindful that no intoxicating liquor should be served to people aged under 18.
To do so is a serious offence under the Dutiable Commodities (Liquor) Regulations, carrying a maximum fine of $5,000 and six months' imprisonment.
In addition, the licence of the premises concerned may be revoked by the Board.
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So far the Board has not received any report of such an offence having been committed, but I would like to remind licensees that the regulations must continue to be observed at all times, although the existing legislation does not prohibit people under the age of 18 from entering licensed premises.
As chairman of the Board, I wish to make it absolutely clear that if we receive evidence of liquor being served to young people on licensed premises, we will take the necessary action against the offenders.
The police, on the other hand, will take prosecution action where appropriate against those in breach of the Dutiable Commodities (Liquor) Regulations, or any of the special licensing conditions imposed by the Board.
Licensees are reminded that all licensed premises are subject to periodic inspections by the Board and the police.
Only recently, members of the Board went on a surprise night inspection tour of a number of licensed premises ranging from discos, lounges to bars and Chinese-style nightclubs in both Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei districts.
The frequency of these checks varies from once a week to once a month, or once every three months, depending on the need to make such inspections and other circumstances.
The checks on licensed premises are mainly carried out by the Police who will inform the Board about any irregularities found on licensed premises.
Concern has also been expressed over young people being able to buy intoxicating liquor at retail outlets such as grocery stores and supermarkets. Although this is not within the jurisdiction of the Board, I have taken steps to draw to this point the attention of the appropriate authorities.
STATEMENT BY MR. WALTER M. SULKE, CHAIRMAN OF THE FINANCE SELECT COMMITTEE
He said (in English):-This is my first public statement as Chairman of the Finance Select Committee and I am very glad that I am able to start off with a bit of good news: The unaudited preliminary figures for the year ended 31st March 1986 show a deficit of only about HK$21 million, which is HK$159 million better than our originally forecast deficit of HK$180 million, a forecast which was prepared 16 months ago when the original budget was approved. This very much better result was achieved in spite of the fact that during the year just ended the Council spent a record of HK$274 million on Capital Works projects to provide much needed Civic facilities thus further up-grading the living standards of Hong Kong. This figure of HK$274 million is HK$62 million more than the Council has ever spent in any year in the past on Civic projects and underlines the Council's commitment to continually improve the quality of life of the people of Hong Kong.