XN000022-1972-08-11 — Page 4

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Friday, August 11, 1972

The success of this policy depends on maintaining control over licensed

hawkers and on stronger measures to reduce the number of unlicensed ones.

One of the main objects of the bill is to extend the powers of the

authorities to make new regulations for the control of hawkers.

A new provision empowers magistrates to recommend to the authorities

that the licence of a hawker be cancelled or suspended if he is convicted of an

offence against the regulations.

Under the bill, the Commissioner for Transport can set aside certain

public streets for hawking:

If necessary, he can limit vehicular traffic on them and the authorities

can then allocate pitches in these streets to hawkers.

Mandatory Forfeiture

"In view of the shortage of suitable sites for hawker bazaars, we will

have to continue to accept, for the time being, on-street hawking but in a

controlled and orderly manner," Mr. Chui said.

The bill provides for the mandatory forfeiture of hawker goods and

equipment in certain circumstances.

Mandatory forfeiture, Mr. Chui said, would now be limited to the four

most serious types of hawker offences:

a) hawking without a licence;

b) hawking in an area where hawking is not permitted;

c) hawking at a fixed pitch without a fixed pitch licence and

d) hawking outside the boundary of a designated pitch.

Commenting on this provision, Mr. Chui said that the Government had for

a long time been concerned about the ineffectiveness of control measures based

on current hawker legislation.

He said