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policy. By subjecting ourselves to public vigilance, we mean that those members of the public who are affected may raise objection (disturbance). On the other hand, liquor licence applicants may carry out supervision and give their views.
I will briefly cite the experience and main points of the liquor licensing policy. The request for drawing up and reviewing the liquor licensing policy was made as early as 1995 and at last we got the draft of the first paper in April this year, but it was fragmented and incomprehensive in want of a lot of refinement. Therefore, the Council returned it to the Department in April for a revamp. It is envisaged that the paper will be submitted to the Liquor Licensing Board in September.
In many foreign cities, there are eight to nine different kinds of liquor licences catered for different places selling liquor but in Hong Kong there is only one, with some slight modifications for places holding club licences. The property classification in respect of places and venues selling liquor has not been clearly defined so far. We have witnessed some cases. The chairman of an Owners' Corporation living on Boundary Street who raised objection to liquor licensing was attacked from behind and hospitalized. It has been two years and the case remains unsolved and unsettled. Those objecting to liquor licensing should be properly protected while applications for a liquor licence made by respectable persons should be properly facilitated instead of being delayed under a bureaucratic system. The question of licence transference also deserves particular attention.
Here I have briefly named a few areas of the liquor licence policy which call for review and urgent improvement. It is hoped that at the couple of meetings to be held in September and afterwards, a consensus will be reached between the government departments concerned and Council Members on a clear licensing policy which will at the same time facilitate the applicants and protect members of the public from any nuisance. Thank you. Mr. Chairman,
Mr. Albert Lai Wing-lin (in Cantonese); Mr. Chairman, I support each and every item in Mr. SZETO Wah's motion.
About the work of reforming the Council's services, it is in fact carried out by every Member every day. New ideas are proposed at every meeting. The work is not confined to a minority. Every Member is engaged in it. I therefore give my support.
About being monitored by the public, we are criticized every day because a lot of activities are not satisfactory. When we are made accountable, we are naturally alerted. We have never blamed the public in return because we should be monitored by them.
As for the creation of a good image, the Democratic Party's survey shows that the Council's image is just so-so. In fact, the Council's image is jointly
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