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hawkers. If an item not on the list is being sold, does it amount to illegal hawking? Is it a prosecutable offence?
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese): There are regulations governing the items permitted to be sold by newspaper hawkers. In general, items sold are newspapers, magazines, periodicals and books. In line with existing policy, licenced newspaper hawkers can obtain the prior approval of the Council and sell small items including cigarettes, lighters, paper towels, bubble gums, candies, preserved fruit, battery and pens. And of course, when a hawker is found to sell items other than those listed above, he may be prosecuted.
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU (in Cantonese): In fact, I asked this question two years ago. I hope Mr. Ip Kwok-chung as Chairman will be able to lead the Markets and Street Traders Select Committee to do more. Will Mr. IP make the Department step up prosecutions of illegal hawking? I ask this not only because of environmental hygiene as mentioned in paragraph 3 of the reply, but that we should consider moral degrading and civilization pollution. Can we make the number of prosecutions and the degree of severity in respect of a newspaper hawker one of the considering factor for licence renewals?
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese): The question asks whether the Select Committee can make the number of prosecutions and the degree of their severity the considering factors for licence renewals.
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese): This can be considered at the Markets and Street Traders Select Committee.
MR. JOSEPH LAI CHI-KEONG (in Cantonese): As shown in the reply, the situation does not seem too serious. In my constituency, namely Eastern District, I feel that the hawking situation is not as simple as we think. I want to know how we peg the degree of severity. Out of 2,158 prosecutions, how many had to do with licenced hawkers? We do not know. How about the distribution? Roads in some older districts are narrow and obstruction often occurs on pavements and some stalls display their goods outside their designated space. How many such cases were there? If obstruction occurs at street bends or building exits, are they considered serious obstruction? We do not have this kind of information in the reply document. As we all know, new publications appear on the market continuously and our licences were issued a long time ago. I wonder if the designated space can meet the requirement and allow stalls to display different magazines and newspapers? Should we review on whether to enlarge the operation space of these hawkers? Or should we move them elsewhere? The above points are directly related to the congestion and traffic confusion for pedestrians and residents in various areas. I hope the Chairman of the Select Committee will not just give us a very simple reply. My question is how we decide on the degree of severity.
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