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248
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. LI YIU BOR asked the following question
"Many victims of the Taipo Road Fire have been squatting in the streets of Shamshuipo for more than two years, and one large torch factory with 1,300 workmen is almost completely surrounded by squatters' shacks built on the adjoining pavements. Will the Chairman, Urban Council, ask the Commissioner for Resettlement to indicate the earliest date when these squatters will be given some form of resettlement?"
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply provided by the Commissioner for Resettlement:-
"Cottages are now being built in the Tai Woh Ping Resettlement Area for the Tai Po Road squatter fire victims and by the end of this month over 1,300 of them will have been resettled in that area. Those in the streets surrounding the torch factory will be resettled by the end of April, and the remainder before the end of December this year."
CONSERVANCY (AMENDMENT) BY-LAWS, 1957.
THE CHAIRMAN moved the following resolution :-
"That the Conservancy (Amendment) By-laws, 1957, be made under Section 4 of the Public Health (Sanitation) Ordinance, 1935."
He said: I rise to move the enactment of the Conservancy (Amendment) By-laws, 1957, a copy of which has been circulated to all members. There is appended at the end of these by-laws a brief explanatory note with which I would now like to deal more fully.
The object of these by-laws, as members are of course aware, is to increase the annual fee paid by those persons who live in premises where water-borne sewage disposal has not been installed and which require to be visited nightly by the conservancy staff of the Urban Services Department for the purpose of removing nightsoil. The service is therefore a limited one and not undertaken for the public at large, as is scavenging and the disposal of refuse. It was for this reason that, just prior to the war when,
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
249
on health grounds, the service was taken over by the department from private contractors, it was considered that the cost of running the service should be balanced as nearly as possible by the fees charged, having regard of course to the principle that such charges must not be beyond what those affected can afford to pay.
In consequence, at the beginning of 1949, fees for the removal of nightsoil, which had remained unchanged since the war, were raised substantially by means of by-laws enacted by this Council. The increases were described at that time as a means of closing the gap between expenditure and revenue, and in the case of domestic premises the charges were increased from $10 to $40 a year, and from $12 to $48 for non-domestic premises, an increase in each case of 300%.
Since 1949, the operating costs of the service have risen substantially, more particularly during 1955 when staff employed became entitled to a shorter working week and more staff had to be engaged. As a result the Council was requested by Government to consider a revision in conservancy charges to bring revenue more into line with expenditure.
It has taken some time to collect and analyse the requisite data, but it can now be said that in the present financial year conservancy will cost rather over $3.3 million, while revenue, on the basis of the existing fees, will be $2.1 million. It will therefore be seen that the service is now operating at a loss of over $1 million a year, or, to put it another way, the persons for whom the service is undertaken are getting it too cheaply, bearing in mind also that these premises, having no main drainage, generally command a lower rental value. Government is therefore of the opinion that this position cannot continue to be accepted, and since by law the charges are payable annually on the 1st April, it is necessary, if a further similar loss is not to be sustained in the approaching financial year, for the new charges to become operative as from this date. The new fees proposed will, it is estimated, bring in an annual sum very slightly below the expenditure incurred.
Turning now to the actual charges proposed, it will be observed that the increase per year for domestic premises is to be from $40 to $60 and from $48 to $72 for non-domestic
Page 22 of 35
Pa
Page 22 of 35
248
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. LI YIU BOR asked the following question
"Many victims of the Taipo Road Fire have been squatting in the streets of Shamshuipo for more than two years, and one large torch factory with 1,300 workmen is almost completely surrounded by squatters' shacks built on the adjoining pavements. Will the Chairman, Urban Council, ask the Com- missioner for Resettlement to indicate the earliest date when these squatters will be given some form of resettlement ?"
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply provided by the Commissioner for Resettlement:-
"Cottages are now being built in the Tai Woh Ping Resettlement Area for the Tai Po Road squatter fire victims and by the end of this month over 1,300 of them will have been resettled in that area. Those in the streets surrounding the torch factory will be resettled by the end of April, and the remainder before the end of December this year."
CONSERVANCY (AMENDMENT) BY-LAWS, 1957.
THE CHAIRMAN moved the following resolution :-
"That the Conservancy (Amendment) By-laws, 1957, be made under Section 4 of the Public Health (Sanita- tion) Ordinance, 1935."
He said: I rise to move the enactment of the Conservancy (Amendment) By-laws, 1957, a copy of which has been circulated to all members. There is appended at the end of these by-laws a brief explanatory note with which I would now like to deal more fully.
The object of these by-laws, as members are of course aware, is to increase the annual fee paid by those persons who live in premises where water-borne sewage disposal has not been installed and which require to be visited nightly by the conservancy staff of the Urban Services Department for the purpose of removing nightsoil. The service is therefore a limited one and not under- taken for the public at large, as is scavenging and the disposal of refuse. It was for this reason that, just prior to the war when,
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
249
on health grounds, the service was taken over by the department from private contractors, it was considered that the cost of running the service should be balanced as nearly as possible by the fees charged, having regard of course to the principle that such charges must not be beyond what those affected can afford
to pay.
In consequence, at the beginning of 1949, fees for the removal of nightsoil, which had remained unchanged since the war, were raised substantially by means of by-laws enacted by this Council. The increases were described at that time as a means of closing the gap between expenditure and revenue, and in the case of domestic premises the charges were increased from $10 to $40 a year, and from $12 to $48 for non-domestic premises, an in- crease in each case of 300%.
Since 1949, the operating costs of the service have risen substantially, more particularly during 1955 when staff employed became entitled to a shorter working week and more staff had to be engaged. As a result the Council was requested by Government to consider a revision in conservancy charges to bring revenue more into line with expenditure.
It has taken some time to collect and analyse the requisite data, but it can now be said that in the present financial year conservancy will cost rather over $3.3 million, while revenue, on the basis of the existing fees, will be $2.1 million. It will therefore be seen that the service is now operating at a loss of over $1 million a year, or, to put it another way, the persons for whom the service is undertaken are getting it too cheaply, bearing in mind also that these premises, having no main drainage, generally command a lower rental value. Government is there- fore of the opinion that this position cannot continue to be accepted, and since by law the charges are payable annually on the 1st April, it is necessary, if a further similar loss is not to be sustained in the approaching financial year, for the new charges to become operative as from this date. The new fees proposed will, it is estimated, bring in an annual sum very slightly below the expenditure incurred.
Turning now to the actual charges proposed, it will be observed that the increase per year for domestic premises is to be from $40 to $60 and from $48 to $72 for non-domestic
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