54
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Select Committee will also ask the USD to step up sudden actions against spitting on the street.
with what
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I fully agree Dr. LEUNG has said that spitting itself is not an offence but spitting on the street is. However, when people have the urgent need to spit, what facilities are provided for their convenience? There is a box at the top of many of our litter bins for people to put their cigarette ash. I wonder if some sort of receptacle could be provided near or on our litter bins to make it convenient for those who are in urgent need of spitting?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I suppose Mr. CHAN will not suggest that public spittoons currently used by leaders of certain countries will be put on the street. People can carry a container with them if they have such a need. Those who don't want to swallow the saliva can of course spit onto a piece of tissue paper and discard it in any litter bin or perhaps deposit it in their own pocket.
STATEMENT BY MR. PETER C. K. CHAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE LIQUOR LICENSING BOARD
He said (in English):—Mr. Chairman, As Chairman of the Liquor Licensing Board I would like to report to the Council on our recent discussions on the important subject of the harmful effects of noise in discotheques.
At the Board's last meeting on 27 May, an expert from the Environmental Protection Department explained that, due to lack of information about attendance pattern at local discos, in particular the duration and frequency of attendance of individual patrons, it is difficult to estimate the risk of hearing damage from the high decibel noise in such establishments.
However, the Board was told that data collected in the United Kingdom, indicated that there would be little risk of hearing damage if a patron's aggregate attendance was less than 12 hours each week.
But, and this is important—if a person's aggregate weekly attendance was over 12 hours, some risk would exist.
However, this risk for regular discogoers is conditional on the basis of continuous attendance every week over a period of many years.
The Board was also advised by the expert that controlling the noise level in discos by way of legislation, even if it is shown to be justified on health grounds, is rarely practicable due to difficulties of enforcement.
In view of this and various other factors, the Board has decided to carry out a study in greater detail on this issue before it comes up with any guidelines or other proposals to deal with the problem.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 31 of 185
55
In the meantime, however, I would like to appeal to all operators of discos in the urban area to take voluntary measures to protect customers' hearing, such as installing automatic cut-out devices and providing quiet rest corners as well as carefully positioning loudspeakers to break down the noise.
Quite apart from disco patrons, there is one particular worry for the Board, and that is the risk of hearing damage to many disco employees, who are obviously heavily exposed to the noisy environment of discos much more than are the patrons.
This aspect falls outside the jurisdiction of either the Liquor Licensing Board or the Council, but we regard it as quite serious and so I am referring the matter to the Commissioner for Labour for follow-up action.
Another interesting development concerning the Board was the visit last month of a member of South Australian Legislative Council, Mr. John BURDETT, with whom I have had a long and stimulating discussion on liquor licensing matters in both territories.
I believe that possibly some of our ideas will end up being promulgated in South Australia—and maybe we'll borrow some of their ideas for adaptation in Hong Kong.
I might add, Mr. Chairman, that although the Australian Legislator and I spent the best part of the afternoon talking about liquor problems, it was a 'dry' meeting—we just had a cup of tea!
Thank you.
STATEMENT BY MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE
He said (in Cantonese):—Following last month's discussion concerning the Council's swimming pools I wish to announce that we have decided to scrap the former sessions at two of our pools, while the hours of the sessions at two other pools have been increased.
This means that at the Chai Wan swimming pool on Hong Kong Island and at the Lei Cheng Uk pool in Kowloon there is just one session daily and it lasts from 7 in the morning to 9 in the evening. So anybody sufficiently keen enough to do so can enjoy 14 hours' use of the pool for the price of a single admission.
Furthermore, at the Kennedy Town and Tai Wan Shan swimming pools in Hung Hom, the hours of the daily sessions have been increased to 6.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, the opening time for the early morning session at the nine other Council pools, except the Wan Chai Training Pool, will be brought forward from 7 a.m. to 6.30 a.m.