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Health Education, but it must be confessed that ingrained bad habits in regard to sanitation are difficult to eradicate and that progress is necessarily slow.
The answer to your (a) is therefore that everything reasonable is being done to keep the toilets and staircases regularly and efficiently cleansed and to your (b) that the attention of the staff will be drawn to the contents of your question. Reference will also be made to the Areas and Estates Select Committee and to the Health Education Select Committee.
At the same time I should be grateful if you would, at your convenience, provide me with further details of the number of complainants and the exact nature of their complaints." MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, the length of the reply is in itself an assurance and I have no supplementary questions.
MOTION.
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN, Chairman of the Markets Select Committee, moved the following motion:
"That the Urban Council as the Authority under Section 80 of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, 1960, resolves, for the proper management and control of public markets that His Excellency the Governor be requested to order, under Section 79(1) of the same Ordinance, that Tung Tau Village Market be deleted from the schedule declaring the markets in the urban areas to which the Ordinance applies."
He said:
Mr. Chairman, in September 1959 the twelve stalls at Tung Tau Village Market were moved to temporary sites to allow clearance for the Tung Tau Resettlement Estate. After that estate was completed the stallholders were moved into fresh provision shops in the estate. This resulted in the abandonment of the temporary market. It now remains for the Council to request His Excellency the Governor, under Section 79 of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, to declare that this market be deleted from the Schedule of Markets in Kowloon and New Kowloon. Before I formally move the motion, Mr. Chairman, I think I would be failing in my duty, as a Member of this Council, not to make some reference to the Market Reconstruction Programme.
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gramme. This programme, as Members will recall, is closely related to the expansion of the Hawker Control Force, since provision of accommodation for the Force has been made in the planning of new markets. If this Force is to do its proper job, it should have suitable accommodation but this will not come about if Government drags its feet or deliberately gives a low priority to the Market Reconstruction Programme. So, Mr. Chairman, I would be grateful if you could convey these remarks to Government with the request that further efforts be made to accelerate our Market Reconstruction Programme. I should be grateful if you would confirm to me in writing that you have done so.
I now formally move the motion.
MR. A. DE O. SALES:-Mr. Chairman, I have much pleasure in seconding the motion. As it is one which arouses keen interest among the Urban Councillors and is likely to lead to hot debate, may I now reserve my speech under Standing Order 10, Section 11? (No other Member having shown a desire to speak, Mr. SALES continued): Chairman, I shall not avail myself of Standing Order 10, Section 11. Notwithstanding the combined judgment of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN and myself, this motion is not going to be hotly contested.
In seconding this motion I would like to support the remarks made by Mr. CHEONG-LEEN regarding the need for the reconstruction of markets to be carried out progressively and in accordance with the schedule which the Select Committee concerned with Markets established some time ago. This morning Mr. CHEONG-LEEN approached me to second his speech. I was very much delighted with the invitation but it came only as an afterthought, another matter having been dealt with first. Mr. CHEONG-LEEN declared, much to my surprise, that it was his intention to limit his speech to-day by merely standing up and formally proposing this motion. I then persuaded him to change his mind as I felt that his many friends and fans in this Council would be most seriously disappointed at not hearing Mr. CHEONG-LEEN addressing the Council on such an important subject as the deletion of a market at Tung Tau Village. Of course, we could not agree as to the exact location of Tung Tau Village—the rendering of this Chinese name into English having been varied with the change in leadership of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs. It is not true, of course, to suggest that every now and again village and street names are changed. A change has in fact occurred and you cannot very well blame me for not knowing that Tung Tau Village is within the area of Kowloon, together with its adjacent territories and overseas provinces.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I support Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's motion whole-heartedly.
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Health Education, but it must be confessed that ingrained bad habits in regard to sanitation are difficult to eradicate and that progress is necessarily slow.
The answer to your (a) is therefore that everything reasonable is being done to keep the toilets and staircases regularly and efficiently cleansed and to your (b) that the attention of the staff will be drawn to the contents of your question. Reference will also be made to the Areas and Estates Select Committee and to the Health Education Select Committee.
At the same time I should be grateful if you would, at your convenience, provide me with further details of the number of complainants and the exact nature of their complaints." MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, the length of the reply is in itself an assurance and I have no supplementary questions.
MOTION.
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN, Chairman of the Markets Select Committee, moved the following motion:
"That the Urban Council as the Authority under Section 80 of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, 1960, resolves, for the proper management and control of public markets that His Excellency the Governor be requested to order, under Section 79(1) of the same Ordinance, that Tung Tau Village Market be deleted from the schedule declaring the markets in the urban areas to which the Ordinance applies."
He said:
Mr. Chairman, in September 1959 the twelve stalls at Tung Tau Village Market were moved to temporary sites to allow clearance for the Tung Tau Resettlement Estate. After that estate was completed the stallholders were moved into fresh provision shops in the estate. This resulted in the abandonment of the temporary market. It now remains for the Council to request His Excellency the Governor, under Section 79 of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, to declare that this market be deleted from the Schedule of Markets in Kowloon and New Kowloon. Before I formally move the motion, Mr. Chairman, I think I would be failing in my duty, as a Member of this Council, not to make some reference to the Market Reconstruction Programme.
Mr. Chairman, you will recall that a few months ago I asked a number of questions before Council concerning what I considered to be the deplorably slow progress in our Market Reconstruction Pro-
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gramme. This programme, as Members will recall, is closely related to the expansion of the Hawker Control Force, since provision of accommodation for the Force has been made in the planning of new markets. If this Force is to do its proper job, it should have suitable accommodation but this will not come about if Government drags its feet or deliberately gives a low priority to the Market Reconstruction Programme. So, Mr. Chairman, I would be grateful if you could convey these remarks to Government with the request that further efforts be made to accelerate our Market Reconstruction Programme. I should be grateful if you would confirm to me in writing that you
have done so.
I now formally move the motion.
MR. A. DE O. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I have much pleasure in seconding the motion. As it is one which arouses keen interest among the Urban Councillors and is likely to lead to hot debate, may I now reserve my speech under Standing Order 10, Section 11? (No other Mr. Member having shown a desire to speak, Mr. SALES continued): Chairman, I shall not avail myself of Standing Order 10, Section 11. Notwithstanding the combined judgment of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN and myself, this motion is not going to be hotly contested.
In seconding this motion I would like to support the remarks made by Mr. CHEONG-LEEN regarding the need for the reconstruction of markets to be carried out progressively and in accordance with the schedule which the Select Committee concerned with Markets establish- ed some time ago. This morning Mr. CHEONG-LEEN approached me to second his speech. I was very much delighted with the invitation but it came only as an afterthought, another matter having been dealt with first. Mr. CHEONG-LEEN declared, much to my surprise, that it was his intention to limit his speech to-day by merely standing up and formally proposing this motion. I then persuaded him to change his mind as I felt that his many friends and fans in this Council would be most seriously disappointed at not hearing Mr. CHEONG-LEEN addressing the Council on such an important subject as the deletion of a market at Tung Tau Village. Of course, we could not agree as to the exact location of Tung Tau Village—the rendering of this Chinese name into English having been varied with the change in leadership of the Secre- tariat for Chinese Affairs. It is not true, of course, to suggest that every now and again village and strect names are changed. A change has in fact occurred and you cannot very well blame me for not knowing that Tung Tau Village is within the area of Kowloon, together with its adjacent territories and overseas provinces.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I support Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's motion whole-heartedly.
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