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MOTION.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee, moved the following motion:-
"That this Council accepts the Supplementary Hawker Report, 1962, and recommends to the Government that the proposals contained therein should be approved and put into effect."
He said:
Mr. Chairman, as Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee I rise to propose the motion which stands in my name that this Council accepts the Supplementary Hawker Report 1962 and recommends to the Government that the proposals contained therein should be approved and put into effect.
The Report has been in your hands now for some considerable time and Members have had the opportunity of considering the individual matters dealt with in this Report in Committee. It is certainly therefore not necessary for my speech today to supplement this Supplementary Hawker Report.
I would however like to draw Members' attention to one or two of the more significant facts which makes it necessary now to revise in some measure the extremely full Report of 1957.
In the first place we have had over a year to see the Hawker Control Force in actual operation and to appreciate in what role they can be most effective and also what the snags are that have arisen, in particular the difficulties of divided responsibility for hawkers between Hawker Control Force and Police which is referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the Report.
Members will probably be surprised to see how the actual numbers of hawkers have risen since 1957, namely from 11,000 to 40,000, which in itself directly affects the establishment of the numbers in the Hawker Control Force dealt with under paragraph 6 of the Report. In general the first twelve paragraphs of the Report are mainly concerned with enlarging the size and scope of the Hawker Control Force and I hope Members will agree with me that a very strong case has been made out.
Paragraphs 13 to 20 of the Report deal with our new recommendations in respect to the formation of Hawker Bazaars and composite markets. We do feel that the time is coming when these bazaars and markets will have to be situated on several floors but experience has shown that the upper floors will not be used unless lifts or escalators are included in the construction of the markets.
Licensing problems generally and questions as to limitation of numbers are dealt with in paragraphs 21 to 29 but Members will note that we continue to approve the Policy introduced by this Council some years ago of permitting unlimited Pedlar Licences.
The very difficult question of wall stalls is dealt with in the recommendations under paragraphs 30 to 35. Members will recall that the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance contemplates the early licensing and control of all wall stalls and the need to do this has become more acute during the last twelve months. I think perhaps we were trying to get too much information about wall stalls in the past before actually licensing them and you will note that the present recommendation is to license all wall stalls at once and thereafter to require them within a reasonable time to comply with certain basic By-Laws that will ensure the stalls are not a danger to the public whilst at the same time enabling them to carry on with their present business without too much interference.
Members will also notice that under paragraph 35 the recommendations face up to the problem of the cooked food stall by advising that the long-term aim of the Council should be to do away with all cooked food stalls as and when cheap restaurants and economy stall canteens can be established by the Council in those areas where there is a genuine need for cheap cooked food. We do not intend to bring existing cooked food stall businesses to an end but it is proposed not to issue any new licences and succession to a stall on the death of a licensee will be limited to his widow and then only if she requires it on welfare grounds. We are applying this same principle to the large general purpose stalls which are too big for our streets now that so much traffic and pedestrians use them. No major change is proposed in respect to fixed pitch stalls.
Finally, we deal with the question of Hawker Bazaars in paragraph 38 of the Report and Members will notice the numerous difficulties that have occurred in many of these Hawker Bazaars where pedlar hawkers are permitted to sell their wares from a static position. Our recommendations in respect to future policy for Hawker Bazaars are also supplemented with an Appendix which gives some idea of the problem involved.
We feel that the recommendations contained in this Report are reasonable and that their adoption both by this Council and by Government is a matter of considerable urgency. I do not wish to mention many individual names as apart from the Hawker Select Committee and Sub-Committee themselves a considerable number of persons on the staff of the Urban Services Department have contributed much time and thought to the proposals which were put up to us. I would however like to mention Mr. SHEPHARD who as Assistant Director of Urban
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186
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
187
|
MOTION.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee, moved the following motion:-
"That this Council accepts the Supplementary Hawker Report, 1962, and recommends to the Government that the proposals contained therein should be approved and put into effect."
He said:
Mr. Chairman, as Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee I rise to propose the motion which stands in my name that this Council accepts the Supplementary Hawker Report 1962 and recommends to the Government that the proposals contained therein should be approved and put into effect.
The Report has been in your hands now for some considerable time and Members have had the opportunity of considering the individual matters dealt with in this Report in Committee. It is certainly therefore not necessary for my speech today to supplement this Supple- mentary Hawker Report.
I would however like to draw Members' attention to one or two of the more significant facts which makes it necessary now to revise in some measure the extremely full Report of 1957.
In the first place we have had over a year to see the Hawker Control Force in actual operation and to appreciate in what role they can be most effective and also what the snags are that have arisen, in particular the difficulties of divided responsibility for hawkers between Hawker Control Force and Police which is referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the Report.
Members will probably be surprised to see how the actual numbers of hawkers have risen since 1957, namely from 11,000 to 40,000, which in itself directly affects the establishment of the numbers in the Hawker Control Force dealt with under paragraph 6 of the Report. In general the first twelve paragraphs of the Report are mainly concerned with enlarging the size and scope of the Hawker Control Force and I hope Members will agree with me that a very strong case has been made out.
Paragraphs 13 to 20 of the Report deal with our new recommenda- tions in respect to the formation of Hawker Bazaars and composite markets. We do feel that the time is coming when these bazaars and markets will have to be situated on several floors but experience has shown that the upper floors will not be used unless lifts or escalators are included in the construction of the markets.
Licensing problems generally and questions as to limitation of numbers are dealt with in paragraphs 21 to 29 but Members will note that we continue to approve the Policy introduced by this Council some years ago of permitting unlimited Pedlar Licences.
The very difficult question of wall stalls is dealt with in the recom- mendations under paragraphs 30 to 35. Members will recall that the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance contemplates the early licensing and control of all wall stalls and the need to do this has become more acute during the last twelve months. I think perhaps we were trying to get too much information about wall stalls in the past before actually licensing them and you will note that the present recommendation is to license all wall stalls at once and thereafter to require them within a reasonable time to comply with certain basic By-Laws that will ensure the stalls are not a danger to the public whilst at the same time enabling them to carry on with their present business without too much interference.
Members will also notice that under paragraph 35 the recommenda- tions face up to the problem of the cooked food stall by advising that the long-term aim of the Council should be to do away with all cooked food stalls as and when cheap restaurants and economy stall canteens can be established by the Council in those areas where there is a genuine need for cheap cooked food. We do not intend to bring existing cooked food stall businesses to an end but it is proposed not to issue any new licences and succession to a stall on the death of a licensee will be limited to his widow and then only if she requires it on welfare grounds. We are applying this same principle to the large general purpose stalls which are too big for our streets now that so much traffic and pedes- trians use them. No major change is proposed in respect to fixed pitch stalls.
Finally, we deal with the question of Hawker Bazaars in para- graph 38 of the Report and Members will notice the numerous difficul- ties that have occurred in many of these Hawker Bazaars where pedlar hawkers are permitted to sell their wares from a static position. Our recommendations in respect to future policy for Hawker Bazaars are also supplemented with an Appendix which gives some idea of the problem involved.
We feel that the recommendations contained in this Report are reasonable and that their adoption both by this Council and by Govern- ment is a matter of considerable urgency. I do not wish to mention many individual names as apart from the Hawker Select Committee and Sub-Committee themselves a considerable number of persons on the staff of the Urban Services Department have contributed much time and thought to the proposals which were put up to us. I would how- ever like to mention Mr. SHEPHARD who as Assistant Director of Urban
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