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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
standing has effected the smooth running of the work of the Council. Mr. Chairman, we must hope that during your tenure of office the same will prevail.
The Statement on the whole is commendable, but I would like to make several observations. The Council as the result of a previous motion has referred the question of the revision of the parking fees to the Multi-storey Car Park Select Committee. Instead of recommending any appreciable reduction in parking fees, however, the Committee has advocated the system of issuing season tickets at $40 a month. This assumes that if a car-owner is to park his or her car there every day and pays a fee of $2.00 a day, there will be a saving of $20 a month if he gets a monthly ticket. But this is wrong, because the parking space available is limited and the number of cars that can be parked there is roughly 600 even when the second Car Park at the City Hall site is opened. A certain number of holders would therefore find that they have no space to park their cars and thus stand every chance of losing the $40 instead of saving the $20. The Council should not be looked upon as a corporation or private enterprise like the tram, ferry or bus companies. With this system, when the demand is greater than the supply, the public is not likely to be very much benefitted by it.
Starting from next week the Council will be running a large-scale campaign on Health Education covering nearly all aspects of public health related to the scope of the Urban Services Department. The campaign will last for 24 months, there being 8 smaller campaigns of 3 months each. We are all aware of the importance of health education, the purpose of which is to rouse the public interest in health problems and to make them get rid of unhealthy habits. But it will be a waste of time and energy if the Urban Council is to work independently without obtaining the cooperation of the other sections of the community outside the Urban Council. The Education Department has lately taken notice of the importance of Health Education, and every endeavour must be made to work in liaison with that Department to make the campaign a success.
The Council has adopted the Hawker Report and henceforth a major portion of the work on hawkers will be in the hands of the Social Welfare Department. In a large community like Hong Kong the welfare of the hawkers is no doubt important, but the welfare of the residents as a whole is equally important too. Up to the present, the fact that cooked-food stalls are sited in the most unhygienic conditions near the drains, under the alleys etc.—seems to be overlooked. The fixed pitches are made to site so close to one another that in many streets in the Colony they block the entrances of the houses and schools, and in fact, the interest of the residents is totally disregarded. This is a menace to health, and this is something that the Council should remedy. What is the use for the Law Revision Select Committee to sit for days, months and years to formulate sanitation laws, or for the Health Education Select Committee to try to run campaigns to educate the public, if this unhygienic state of affairs is allowed to exist? The Council should see to it that all new sitings should be carefully examined in the future.
Mr. Li Yiu Bor has appealed to you Sir, as Chairman of the Housing Authority that in the future when any housing scheme is completed and the flats are being allocated, fair consideration should be given to the applications from teachers. I don't need to point out that in the Colony the remuneration of the teachers in private schools is very very low indeed. The rentals for the North Point estate, as we all have seen, are still too high for the major part of the community, and this is even more so for the teachers. Rentals are based on the cost of the building. To keep the rentals low and to reduce the cost of building, the Authority should not aim at developing large sites, because development and site formation cost time and money. Moreover there should not be too many amenities, for they will eventually reflect on the rentals. To meet the criticisms, the Authority should pick the smaller sites and see that a large number of low-cost flats enough to meet the demand can be completed in the near future. (Applause).
MR. C. Y. KWAN:-Mr. Chairman, I rise to support your motion. In doing so I wish to say a few words about the law revision which you have referred to in your Statement of Progress and Policy. The Law Revision Select Committee of which I am the chairman, has completed its consideration of the third draft of the proposed Bill for a new ordinance intended to be known as The Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance. The fourth draft of the Bill is being made and will be presented to this Council for consideration and approval in a few weeks' time, at any rate not later than the time mentioned in your State-
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Page 23 of 139
Page 23 of 139
1.
-F
5
26
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
standing has effected the smooth running of the work of the Council. Mr. Chairman, we must hope that during your tenure of office the same will prevail.
The Statement on the whole is commendable, but I would like to make several observations. The Council as the result of a previous motion has referred the question of the revision of the parking fees to the Multi-storey Car Park Select Committee. Instead of recommending any appreciable reduction in parking fees, however, the Committee has advocated the system of issuing season tickets at $40 a month. This assumes that if a car-owner is to park his or her car there every day and pays a fee of $2.00 a day, there will be a saving of $20 a month if he gets a monthly ticket. But this is wrong, because the parking space available is limited and the number of cars that can be parked there is roughly 600 even when the second Car Park at the City Hall site is opened. A certain number of holders would therefore find that they have no space to park their cars and thus stand every chance of losing the $40 instead of saving the $20. The Council should not be looked upon as a corporation or private enterprise like the tram, ferry or bus companies. With this system, when the demand is greater than the supply, the public is not likely to be very much benefitted by it.
Starting from next week the Council will be running a large- scale campaign on Health Education covering nearly all aspects of public health related to the scope of the Urban Services Depart- ment. The campaign will last for 24 months, there being 8 smaller campaigns of 3 months each. We are all aware of the importance of health education, the purpose of which is to rouse the public interest in health problems and to make them get rid of unhealthy habits. But it will be a waste of time and energy if the Urban Council is to work independently without obtaining the coopera- tion of the other sections of the community outside the Urban Council. The Education Department has lately taken notice of the importance of Health Education, and every endeavour must be made to work in liaison with that Department to make the campaign a success.
The Council has adopted the Hawker Report and henceforth a major portion of the work on hawkers will be in the hands of the Social Welfare Department. In a large community like Hong Kong the welfare of the hawkers is no doubt important, but the
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
27
welfare of the residents as a whole is equally important too. Up to the present, the fact that cooked-food stalls are sited in the most unhygienic conditions near the drains, under the alleys etc.- seems to be overlooked. The fixed pitches are made to site so close to one another that in many streets in the Colony they block the entrances of the houses and schools, and in fact, the interest of the residents is totally disregarded. This is a menace to health, and this is something that the Council should remedy. What is the use for the Law Revision Select Committee to sit for days, months and years to formulate sanitation laws, or for the Health Education Select Committee to try to run campaigns to educate the public, if this unhygienic state of affairs is allowed to exist? The Council should see to it that all new sitings should be care- fully examined in the future.
Mr. Li Yiu Bor has appealed to you Sir, as Chairman of the Housing Authority that in the future when any housing scheme is completed and the flats are being allocated, fair consideration should be given to the applications from teachers. I don't need to point out that in the Colony the remuneration of the teachers in private schools is very very low indeed. The rentals for the North Point estate, as we all have seen, are still too high for the major part of the community, and this is even more so for the teachers. Rentals are based on the cost of the building. To keep the rentals low and to reduce the cost of building, the Authority should not aim at developing large sites, because development and site formation cost time and money. Moreover there should not be too many amenities, for they will eventually reflect on the rentals. To meet the criticisms, the Authority should pick the smaller sites and see that a large number of low- cost flats enough to meet the demand can be completed in the near future. (Applause).
MR. C. Y. KWAN:-Mr. Chairman, I rise to support your motion. In doing so I wish to say a few words about the law revision which you have referred to in your Statement of Progress and Policy. The Law Revision Select Committee of which I am the chairman, has completed its consideration of the third draft of the proposed Bill for a new ordinance intended to be known as The Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance. The fourth draft of the Bill is being made and will be presented to this Council for consideration and approval in a few weeks' time, at any rate not later than the time mentioned in your State-
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.