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MR. SALES :--Can we be assured that it will not be another instance when 25 years will lapse before results can be expected?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: --Mr. Chairman, I do not know of any instance where 25 years have lapsed in the case of town planning.
DR. BELL:--Mr. Chairman, is the Director of Public Works aware of the Post Office building in Kowloon, which has been temporary for 30 years now? Presumably, something lapsed then.
Director of Public Works:--I do not think that that has anything to do with town planning.
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:--
In answer to a question raised by Mr. Li Yiu-bor on public telephone booths in resettlement estates at the January 1959 meeting of Council, the Commissioner for Resettlement replied as follows:--
"At present settlers in resettlement estates are allowed to use the telephones in the estates offices in an emergency. However, it is agreed that it would be desirable to have a public telephone box in each estate and I should be glad to take up the question with the Telephone Company."
Will the Commissioner please advise how many resettlement estates now have public telephones? Also, how many other estates do not have public telephone booths, and what steps have been taken to have public telephones installed during the past four years?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:--
This question concerns public telephones in the Estates, a matter which has been raised on a number of previous occasions.
Before dealing specifically with the reply, I would like to make one personal observation. I do feel that people in Hong Kong are terribly prone to use telephones to excess and that, distances being as short as they are, degrees of emergency are frequently overrated.
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In my reply to Members on the 6th June, 1961, I advised that 8 of the 13 Estates are provided with single public call boxes. Hung Hom, Chai Wan, Kwun Tong, Jordan Valley and Wang Tau Hom and the Cottage Areas have no such public facilities but there is undoubtedly much use of telephones owned by shopkeepers. Despite requests addressed to the Telephone Company in 1959 for public call boxes in Chai Wan, Kwun Tong and Hung Hom, no progress has been made. Similar requests in respect of Jordan Valley and Wang Tau Hom will be put forward at an early date. In fairness to the Company I would like to refer to a paper issued in June 1961 in which I pointed out that only a handful of calls were made daily from these booths.
Members will be interested to hear that 677 shopkeepers and individual householders in the Estates and Areas have installed telephones at their own expense. The lack of public call boxes does not therefore pose such a serious problem as in the past and Estate Office phones are always available for use in emergencies. Nevertheless I can see justification for one in each estate.
The Department will continue to review the issue and take whatever action appears necessary to expedite installation.
MR. BERNACCHI :--I would like to ask a supplementary. Does the Commissioner for Resettlement consider that the position has reached such an extent that Government should be approached to set up, as is provided for in the Telephone Company Ordinance, an Inquiry Board to inquire whether the Telephone Company offers sufficient public services?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:--I think that this question is rather beyond the scope of resettlement, Mr. Chairman. I cannot agree that there is such a serious issue in resettlement estates proper.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:--Mr. Chairman, I would like to refer to the penultimate paragraph of the reply by the Commissioner for Resettlement, in which it is stated that there is justification for having a public telephone in each estate. I presume that in view of this statement by the Commissioner, appropriate action will be taken?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:--Appropriate action will be taken.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:--Thank you, Sir. I asked this because I was not too sure what the intent is in the last sentence of the Commissioner's reply.
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MR. SALES :--Can we be assured that it will not be another instance when 25 years will lapse before results can be expected?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: --Mr. Chairman, I do not know of any instance where 25 years have lapsed in the case of town planning. DR. BELL:-Mr. Chairman, is the Director of Public Works aware of the Post Office building in Kowloon, which has been temporary for 30 years now? Presumably, something lapsed then.
Director of Public Works:-I do not think that that has any- thing to do with town planning.
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
In answer to a question raised by Mr. Li Yiu-bor on public telephone booths in resettlement estates at the January 1959 meeting of Council, the Commissioner for Resettle- ment replied as follows:-
"At present settlers in resettlement estates are allowed to use the telephones in the estates offices in an emer- gency. However, it is agreed that it would be desir- able to have a public telephone box in each estate and I should be glad to take up the question with the Telephone Company."
Will the Commissioner please advise how many resettle- ment estates now have public telephones? Also, how many other estates do not have public telephone booths, and what steps have been taken to have public telephones installed during the past four years?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
This question concerns public telephones in the Estates, a matter which has been raised on a number of previous
occasions.
Before dealing specifically with the reply, I would like to make one personal observation. I do feel that people in Hong Kong are terribly prone to use telephones to excess and that, distances being as short as they are, degrees of emergency are frequently overrated.
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239
In my reply to Members on the 6th June, 1961, I advised that 8 of the 13 Estates are provided with single public call boxes. Hung Hom, Chai Wan, Kwun Tong, Jordan Valley and Wang Tau Hom and the Cottage Areas have no such public facilities but there is undoubtedly much use of telephones owned by shopkeepers. Despite requests addressed to the Telephone Company in 1959 for public call boxes in Chai Wan, Kwun Tong and Hung Hom, no progress has been made. Similar requests in respect of Jordan Valley and Wang Tau Hom will be put forward at an early date. In fairness to the Company I would like to refer to a paper issued in June 1961 in which I pointed out that only a handful of calls were made daily from these booths.
Members will be interested to hear that 677 shopkeepers and individual householders in the Estates and Areas have installed telephones at their own expense. The lack of public call boxes does not therefore pose such a serious problem as in the past and Estate Office phones are always available for use in emergencies. Nevertheless I can see justification for one in each estate.
The Department will continue to review the issue and take whatever action appears necessary to expedite installation.
MR. BERNACCHI :---I would like to ask a supplementary. Does the Commissioner for Resettlement consider that the position has reached such an extent that Government should be approached to set up, as is provided for in the Telephone Company Ordinance, an Inquiry Board to inquire whether the Telephone Company offers sufficient public services?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I think that this question is rather beyond the scope of resettlement, Mr. Chairman. I cannot agree that there is such a serious issue in resettlement estates proper.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to refer to the penultimate paragraph of the reply by the Commissioner for Resettle- ment, in which it is stated that there is justification for having a public telephone in each estate. I presume that in view of this statement by the Commissioner, appropriate action will be taken?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Appropriate action will be
taken.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you, Sir. I asked this because I was not too sure what the intent is in the last sentence of the Commissioner's reply.
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