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impose conditions in appropriate cases to restrict the operating hours for the sale of liquor. The Board may in addition on being satisfied that a noise nuisance exists refuse the issue or renewal of a liquor licence but that would not preclude continued operation of premises as a 'Karaoke' without the sale of liquor. In general, I think it is a good commercial sense for the operators of 'Karaoke' to have well insulated rooms and premises to create goodwill for the neighbourhoods. What I think the men concerned would be from private homes who own 'Karaoke' sets which may disturb their neighbours without well insulation to their premises.
(Mr. Frederick K. K. FUNG arrived at 2.35 p.m.)
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, in fact I have received a lot of complaints from the public about the noise nuisances from the 'Karaokes' and they are not really songs but noise nuisances. In particular in restaurants, customers are affected in terms of appetite as well as mentality in taking food. Besides, people are deprived of the privilege of having a good sleep in mid-night. Although the authority has been transferred to the Environmental Protection Department but as a licensing authority, before issuing licences, we should first of all ensure that the fire safety and structural stability of the premises are complied with and so forth. I would like to ask whether the nuisances that really affect people's food hygiene and their tranquility in taking food be included as one of the licensing conditions for issue or renewal of licences? Can we ask the Environmental Protection Department to include this as one of the licensing conditions so as to protect the interest and hygiene of customers in taking food?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):- Mr. Chairman, I think we can make it a licensing condition but it would be very difficult and actually not within our power to enforce such a regulation because this falls within, as I said, the Noise Control Ordinance which is enforced by the Environmental Protection Department and they have a telephone hotline for complaints of noise pollution. I think it is not within the power and control of the Urban Council to enforce it even if we agree to include it as a licensing condition.
MR. PETER C. K. CHAN (in English):- Mr. Chairman, as a matter of fact, when it comes to liquor licensing and it is a matter of great concern. The first point I would like to point out is that in the newspaper, there are a lot of complaints about 'Karaoke' in Sha Tin which are outside our jurisdiction and the three 'Karaokes' under complaints were given a liquor licence. According to newspapers, it is the subject of appeal to the Governor-in-Council after seeing the OMELCO. But within our jurisdiction, there was one case in the Tsim Sha Tsui. A couple of months ago, we had two full public hearings. In answering to Mr. Joseph CHAN's point about whether we get the Environmental Protection Department to help us, the answer is 'yes'. On that particular case, the Director of Environmental Protection wrote a very lengthy memo to the Board on the 23rd of January. After a very thorough investigation, the Environmental
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Protection Department referred to that particular place which the Board was considering whether to issue a licence and considered to take action against the premises under Section 13 of the Noise Control Ordinance which is under their jurisdiction but they always welcome us to refer cases to them and they also pointed out that it might be a case for the Police to consider taking action under Section 4(23) of the Summary Offence Ordinance. There were over 30 residents of that particular building which is a residential cum commercial premises, who came here and filled the gallery and gave a lot of views on whether the licence should be issued. Eventually, the licence was not issued, i.e. the Board which I chaired did not give the licence. There have been correspondences from lawyers that they may appeal to the Supreme Court or to the Governor-in-Council. Since they have expressed such a desire, I think a further comment may not be appropriate and it may be considered as a sub judice. However, to assure Council Members, whenever there is a case, people within 200 metres of the 'Karaoke' or whatever it may be, make written objection or the other interested parties raise objection, the Board gives an open-to-the-public hearing and everybody can raise their voice and raise objection and the Liquor Licensing Board will deal with it fairly in the public interest and in the interest of all parties will make a decision. In that particular case, a decision has been made and whether it will be subject to the review of the higher authority or the judicial authority, it is not a matter for me to comment.
MR. TONG KAM-BIU (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, since we are all concerned about this matter and think that the noise is a nuisance, can the Liquor Licensing Board before issuing licences impose some sort of licensing conditions? For example, if they want to have a dancing area or a bar to sell liquor, they have to seek our approval. So if someone applies for a premises to operate as a 'Karaoke', can we impose certain special conditions before a licence is issued? Can the Liquor Licensing Board or the Public Health Select Committee consider this point?
MR. PETER C. K. CHAN (in Cantonese):- Let's not restrict it to 'Karaokes' but whatever premises which are issued with liquor licences. If they want to have a dance floor, they have to seek our endorsement because if you want to dance, music is required and according to the authority of the Liquor Licensing Board, we can impose additional conditions on the licence. I remember that in Tak Hing Street there were three liquor establishments in which we restricted that the sale of liquor from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. was prohibited and later when we discovered that the noise was still too loud, we further restricted the sale of liquor after 12 mid-night. Eventually, all these three lounges were closed down. Also, in Hillwood Road, since we have received complaints about noises generated from some lounges, no sale of liquor was allowed after 2 a.m. The Liquor Licensing Board will restrict the hours of sale of liquor after having considered the public interest.
3. MR. DAVID P. S. FONG asked the following question (in Cantonese):- at present, the audio-visual materials provided by Urban Council Public Libraries are very popular. However, much inconvenience has been caused to borrowers for
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