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I have no doubt at all that this motion is inspired by a genuine wish to see some improvements at Ma Tau Kok, and in anticipation of the Council endorsing this view, I have already caused an examination to be begun into some of the matters which have been referred to this afternoon, with a view to putting suggestions to the Select Committee. Whether these suggestions will prove financially practicable is another matter.
DR. LEE:- I would like to reply on one or two points. I am very glad to hear from those who spoke on the motion today that they are in favour of the motion in principle. I would like to state in reply to my friend Mr. Kan who asked whether questions and motions put before this Council are really necessary or not. I think that his remarks are indeed too rigid. He has joined this Council only a few months ago and he does not realize the trials and the fights we had to put up in the early days to put this Council on the map of the Colony. So many little other points, matters that were born in this Council, that today would be taken as a matter of fact, like the resettlement project, the Housing Division and so on. These are very important matters. Coming back to the point of the Slaughter House, I gather that a year before I joined this Council a full plan had been put before this Council and accepted and endorsed and received the blessings of this Council, but when I raised the matter regarding meat and in conjunction with the Slaughter House during the Honourable Richards' time, he investigated the matter and found the whole scheme was pigeon-holed. It was only after a question I put before the Council that the whole scheme was resuscitated. So therefore the reason for questions in this Council is not propaganda. I know that the minority in this Council are Elected Members, but if we put time and energy in this Council we do not do it for propaganda; we shoulder our share of work, but there is no reason why everything we do must have a propaganda aspect to it. That was 1954. And the recent plan for the Slaughter House was not put before the Slaughter House Select Committee until only about a month ago, and then it was a different proposal altogether, that there will be one Slaughter House in Kowloon and another in Hong Kong, but I gather that even that Scheme has not received approval.
CHAIRMAN:- Dr. Lee, on a point of order: I don't wish to interrupt but I think you should confine yourself to the terms of the Motion.
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DR. LEE:- I was going to develop my subject. All these points, Mr. Chairman- I am sorry I have digressed. The point I am trying to make is that all we are trying to do is to ask the people higher up to sit up, that we do insist on having two Slaughter Houses for the service of this Colony, otherwise the health of this Colony will be severely jeopardized. It has another aspect, and that is the very fact that when we take the matter up in Council it has to go through the Estimates Select Committee in order to get the financial backing for the things that we want to do in this Council for the year to come.
I won't digress too much, Mr. Chairman. I am very glad to hear that you endorse the things I have drawn attention to. I hope the people who are responsible for holding the purse strings in the Colony will not be too mean in permitting these very necessary improvements to be done.
The question was put.
The Motion was carried.
CHAIRMAN:- With regard to Motions 2 and 3 on the Agenda, I propose, if members have no objection, to move Motion 3 before Motion 2 since the latter is strictly speaking consequential on the former.
THE CHAIRMAN moved:
"That the Victoria Park Swimming Pool By-laws, 1957, be made under Section 4 of the Public Health (Sanitation) Ordinance, 1935.”
He said: These by-laws, together with the Swimming Pools (Amendment) By-laws, have been considered and discussed carefully in the Committee stage. This first set deals with a number of matters over which it is necessary to maintain control. They deal, in the first place, with public behaviour. It is expected that at many times the pool will be very crowded, and it is necessary to ensure decent, orderly and considerate behaviour in the interest of everyone. It is necessary also to prescribe opening and closing times and the entrance fees to be charged. There is discretion to waive and reduce fees in certain cases.
THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS seconded.
The question was put.
The Motion was carried.
Page 64 of 115
Page 63 of 115
110
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I have no doubt at all that this motion is inspired by a genuine wish to see some improvements at Ma Tau Kok, and in anticipa- tion of the Council endorsing this view, I have already caused an examination to be begun into some of the matters which have been referred to this afternoon, with a view to putting suggestions to the Select Committee. Whether these suggestions will prove financially practicable is another matter.
DR. LEE :-1 would like to reply on one or two points. I am very glad to hear from those who spoke on the motion today that they are in favour of the motion in principle. I would like to state in reply to my friend Mr. Kan who asked whether questions and motions put before this Council are really necessary or not. I think that his remarks are indeed too rigid. He has joined this Council only a few months ago and he does not realize the trials and the fights we had to put up in the early days to put this Council on the map of the Colony. So many little other points, matters that were born in this Council, that today would be taken as a matter of fact, like the resettlement project, the Housing Division and so on. These are very important matters. Coming back to the point of the Slaughter House, I gather that a year before I joined this Council a full plan had been put before this Council and accepted and endorsed and received the blessings of this Council, but when I raised the matter regarding meat and in conjunction with the Slaughter House during the Honourable Richards' time, he investigated the matter and found the whole scheme was pigeon-holed. It was only after a question I put before the Council that the whole scheme was resuscitated. So therefore the reason for questions in this Council is not propaganda. I know that the minority in this Council are Elected Members, but if we put time and energy in this Council we do not do it for propaganda; we shoulder our share of work, but there is no reason why everything we do must have a propaganda aspect to it. That was 1954. And the recent plan for the Slaughter House was not put before the Slaughter House Select Committee until only about a month ago, and then it was a different proposal altogether, that there will be one Slaughter House in Kowloon and another in Hong Kong, but I gather that even that Scheme has not received approval.
CHAIRMAN :-Dr. Lee, on a point of order: I don't wish to interrupt but I think you should confine yourself to the terms of the Motion.
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111
DR. LEE:~] was going to develop my subject. All these points, Mr. Chairman-I am sorry I have digressed. The point I am trying to make is that all we are trying to do is to ask the people higher up to sit up, that we do insist on having two Slaughter Houses for the service of this Colony, otherwise the health of this Colony will be severely jeopardized. It has another aspect, and that is the very fact that when we take the matter up in Council it has to go through the Estimates Select Committee in order to get the financial backing for the things that we want to do in this Council for the year to come.
I won't digress too much, Mr. Chairman. I am very glad to hear that you endorse the things I have drawn attention to. I hope the people who are responsible for holding the purse strings in the Colony will not be too mean in permitting these very necessary improvements to be done.
The question was put.
The Motion was carried.
CHAIRMAN :-With regard to Motions 2 and 3 on the Agenda, I propose, if members have no objection, to move Motion 3 before Motion 2 since the latter is strictly speaking consequential on the former.
THE CHAIRMAN moved:
"That the Victoria Park Swimming Pool By-laws, 1957, be made under Section 4 of the Public Health (Sanitation) Ordinance, 1935.”
He said: These by-laws, together with the Swimming Pools (Amendment) By-laws, have been considered and discussed care- fully in the Committee stage. This first set deals with a number of matters over which it is necessary to maintain control. They deal, in the first place, with public behaviour. It is expected that at many times the pool will be very crowded, and it is necessary to ensure decent, orderly and considerate behaviour in the interest of everyone. It is necessary also to prescribe opening and closing times and the entrance fees to be charged. There is discretion to waive and reduce fees in certain cases.
THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS seconded.
The question was put.
The Motion was carried.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.