Page 27 of 115
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply :—
"Yes, Sir. One of the problems to be tackled by the new hawker and market organization, with Police assistance, is the activities of hawkers in the immediate vicinity of markets. We cannot, however, make final plans for Hill Road at the moment, as the nullah is to be decked and the road reconstructed in the near future. In the meantime instructions have been given to pay particular attention to street cleansing in this vicinity.
MR. R. C. LEE asked the following two questions :-
"Is the Chairman aware that frequent nuisance is caused to pedestrians by the dripping of water due to condensation from air conditioning units?"
"Will the Chairman take appropriate steps to eradicate such nuisances ?"
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply :-
"No, Sir. It appears that prior to notice of your question no such complaint had ever been received. Arrangements are now being made to put these air conditioning units under observation. Meanwhile it seems probable that this dripping of water is caused by lack of servicing of window-type air conditioning units in office buildings, and the remedy appears to be to attach a simple drainage device, so that surplus water can be drained away into waste pipes. Perhaps you will permit me to supply a more comprehensive reply when further investigations have been made. In the meantime I am obliged to you for having raised this matter; it may serve to draw the attention both of owners of these appliances and the firms responsible for their servicing to the nuisance which is being caused by dripping water."
ANNUAL CONVENTIONAL DEBATE.
CHAIRMAN :— There are now certain official speeches in continuation of last month's debate.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. A. ST. G. WALTON :- During the course of this debate several Members have referred to matters connected with resettlement, and I should now like to say a few words on the points which have been raised.
Mr. P. D. Au suggested that the time had come to reduce the density of multi-storey resettlement rooms. The overcrowding which certainly now exists in some of these rooms is due mainly to the high birth rate in the resettlement estates, particularly in Shek Kip Mei, and measures are now being taken to reduce this overcrowding by offering additional space to families which have increased in size since they were first resettled.
Mr. R. C. Lee stated that the number of squatter huts on rooftops appeared to be on the increase. I would like to correct this impression. It is true that new huts are still being built on rooftops, but they are not allowed to remain for more than a week or ten days. Every rooftop which might be used for squatting is visited every week by the patrols of the Resettlement Department and demolition orders are served for any new huts which were not recorded in the survey made last November and for any new extensions to old huts. The number of new huts and extensions to old huts demolished since the rooftop squatter patrols started operations last November now totals 725, 92 of which were demolished last month.
Mr. R. C. Lee also suggested that families or individuals who have received compensation in connexion with the demolition of tenement buildings should be debarred from being offered resettlement. Such persons are in fact not eligible for resettlement, but if Mr. Lee would like the matter to be considered further by the appropriate Select Committee this will be arranged.
References were also made by Mr. Fung Ping Fan, Mr. P. D. Au, Mr. Li Yiu Bor and Mr. Hilton Cheong-Leen to the multi-storey resettlement building programme. Members will have noted from the last quarterly report of the Resettlement Department, which has been laid on the table at this meeting, that the number of persons resettled at the end of March, 1957 amounted to over 213,000. There still remain however about 270,000 squatters now living unlawfully on Crown land and in addition there are about 64,000 rooftop squatters. Much therefore still remains to be done.
Page 27 of 115
Page 27 of 115
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1.
38
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply :—
"Yes, Sir. One of the problems to be tackled by the new hawker and market organization, with Police assistance, is the activities of hawkers in the immediate vicinity of markets. We cannot, how- ever, make final plans for Hill Road at the moment, as the nullah is to be decked and the road recon- structed in the near future. In the meantime instructions have been given to pay particular atten- tion to street cleansing in this vicinity.
MR. R. C. LEE asked the following two questions :-
"Is the Chairman aware that frequent nuisance is caused to pedestrians by the dripping of water due to con- densation from air conditioning units?"
"Will the Chairman take appropriate steps to eradicate
such nuisances ?"
THE CHAIRMAN tabled the following written reply
-
"No, Sir. It appears that prior to notice of your question no such complaint had ever been received. Arrange- ments are now being made to put these air condition- ing units under observation. Meanwhile it seems probable that this dripping of water is caused by lack of servicing of window-type air conditioning units in office buildings, and the remedy appears to be to attach a simple drainage device, so that surplus water can be drained away into waste pipes. Perhaps you will permit me to supply a more com- prehensive reply when further investigations have been made. In the meantime I am obliged to you for having raised this matter; it may serve to draw the attention both of owners of these appliances and the firms responsible for their servicing to the nuisance which is being caused by dripping water."
ANNUAL CONVENTIONAL DEBATE.
CHAIRMAN :---There are now certain official speeches in con- tinuation of last month's debate.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
39
'
MR. A. ST. G. WALTON :-During the course of this debate several Members have referred to matters connected with resettle- ment, and I should now like to say a few words on the points which have been raised.
Mr. P. D. Au suggested that the time had come to reduce the density of multi-storey resettlement rooms. The overcrowding which certainly now exists in some of these rooms is due mainly to the high birth rate in the resettlement estates, particularly in Shek Kip Mei, and measures are now being taken to reduce this overcrowding by offering additional space to families which have increased in size since they were first resettled.
Mr. R. C. Lee stated that the number of squatter huts on rooftops appeared to be on the increase. I would like to correct this impression. It is true that new huts are still being built on rooftops, but they are not allowed to remain for more than a week or ten days. Every rooftop which might be used for squatting is visited every week by the patrols of the Resettlement Department and demolition orders are served for any new huts which were not recorded in the survey made last November and for any new extensions to old huts. The number of new huts and extensions to old huts demolished since the rooftop squatter patrols started operations last November now totals 725, 92 of which were demolished last month.
Mr. R. C. Lee also suggested that families or individuals who have received compensation in connexion with the demolition of tenement buildings should be debarred from being offered resettlement. Such persons are in fact not eligible for resettle- ment, but if Mr. Lee would like the matter to be considered further by the appropriate Select Committee this will be arranged.
References were also made by Mr. Fung Ping Fan, Mr. P. D. Au, Mr. Li Yiu Bor and Mr. Hilton Cheong-Leen to the multi- storey resettlement building programme. Members will have noted from the last quarterly report of the Resettlement Depart- ment, which has been laid on the table at this meeting, that the number of persons resettled at the end of March, 1957 amounted to over 213,000. There still remain however about 270,000 squatters now living unlawfully on Crown land and in addition there are about 64,000 rooftop squatters. Much therefore still remains to be done.
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