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find out clearly from the reply document. As for the tonnage of garbage, the reply document clearly stated an increase of 32%. The reason for this is that we had more stalls this year at 1196 as compared with 1068 of last year. Basically, all stalls were let out. On visitors to the LNY Fairs, the number rose from over 800,000 last year to over 1,200,000 this year. I would say these accounted for the increase in garbage and refuse.
The second question concerns scalping activities on the Internet. I am sure everyone knows about this as broadcast on radio. However, it does not mean that scalping was successful. If there were unsuccessful scalping activities, we would have nothing to follow up. It does not mean that we are turning a blind eye as suggested by Mr. To. We know of the situation, but there was no deal concluded after announcing on the Internet so that it was impossible for us to take further actions. In fact, according to records produced by the Department, all stalls were operated by successful bidders themselves. In any case, we took preventive measures by issuing hawker licences and assigning Hawker Control Team staff to carry out regular inspections and see if licence holders were operating the stalls themselves. I explained this too in my reply document.
The third question concerns improper trading practices as reported in a newspaper. In the last paragraph of my reply document, I stated that it would be criminal fraud, not a hawking matter. Fraud activities are followed up by the Police and these are not the duty of this Council. I hope Mr. To can get this straight.
The last question concerns Mr. To's worry whether the existing bidding mechanism can afford adequate protection against fraud. I can tell Mr. To that it is not within our sphere of work. After bidding, one has to follow our way to trade. If one deviates from that way, including practising fraud as mentioned by Mr. To, it would be for the Police to handle, not us. So, to my mind, existing tendering procedures and concepts as well as our current policy are all feasible.
Mr. Daniel TO BOON-MAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, on human resources, in fact I was given figures in terms of time. The Department told me that 9.5 hours were required to clean up Victoria Park last year and that with a minor increase of manpower this year, 10.5 hours were required for the cleaning up. Whatever the situation, I applaud the performance of the Department's staff. The focus of question is whether we need to continue to clean up unnecessary garbage year after year, and whether we have good measures in place to reduce the amount of garbage. Nevertheless, there has been an increase of human resources to cope with such work.
On the other hand, we are all concerned about one other thing. Some situations are to be dealt with by the Police, but we still hope that the Department can work at them since these fairs are held at our venues. We
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