150
98
# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR. R. H. S. LEE, Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee, moved the following motion:-
THAT the Ventilation (Amendment) By-laws, 1962, be made under section 88 of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, 1960.
He said: Mr. Chairman, I will not take up Members' time by going at length into this motion. The Explanatory Note which accompanies it is very clear and does not require elaboration on my part.
I have much pleasure in moving this motion that stands in my name.
MR. K. A. Watson seconded.
The question was put.
The motion was carried.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee, moved the following motion:-
THAT under By-law No. 6 of the Hawker By-laws, 1960, the areas prescribed in the attached schedule* shall be published in the Gazette as areas in which hawking by means of mobile shops and mobile canteens may be carried on.
He said: Mr. Chairman, mobile shops and canteens are commonplace in many countries today particularly in places where normal communications and services have not yet been developed. This latter fact was appreciated by the Law Revision Select Committee in its approach to the recasting of what are now the Hawker By-laws, 1960, and which specifically envisage what I might term mobile hawking.
Inquiries have recently come in as to the licensing of these types of hawker vehicles and it is necessary to take the first step in gazetting areas which will enable the department to deal authoritatively with requests and queries from firms showing interest in this new (at least for Hong Kong) sales medium. As the vehicle used must inevitably come under the various vehicle regulations supervised by the Commissioner of Police, the Council and the Commissioner have co-operated together in working out a first preliminary list and after much deliberation these areas are now set out in the paper before Members.
As Members are aware, other interested Select Committees of this Council have also been consulted, especially those dealing with Public Health and Resettlement. The present list will afford to the Council time and opportunity to assess the merits and demerits of this type of licence and we are, of course, prepared to consider any further particular areas that are suggested to us by those interested in this connexion. The areas do not include the New Territories, except New Kowloon, for which the Council is not yet responsible, but I understand that the Commissioner of the New Territories will shortly be gazetting a similar list covering those parts of the Colony within his jurisdiction. Sir, with this brief explanation and as Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee, I beg to move the motion standing in my name.
MR. WILFRED S. B. WONG seconded.
DR. A. M. S. BELL:- Mr. Chairman, in this connexion, from a public health point of view, our Committee has considered very carefully the question of whether this was going to overlap perhaps with food hawking and hawking as such in urban districts of the Colony, and I would like to make it clear now that the Committee at that time left that these mobile shops and canteens should be very much confined to country districts. In most other countries they are designed for areas where there are no other facilities. I think it should be pointed out in connexion with this motion that we should watch that by licensing these mobile shops and canteens we are not affecting the livelihood of small shops in districts of the Colony, such as resettlement districts and so on. I think we have taken care so far to do that and hope we continue to do so.
MR. A. de O. SALES:- Mr. Chairman, I rise to support my colleague's motion with, in fact, some misgivings. Hawkers have never struck me as being lacking in mobility. In fact, whenever Urban Councillors visit markets and hawkers are tipped off that Urban Councillors are coming, they have shown remarkable alacrity in moving their baskets away from passages and approaches to our markets. Sir, I wonder whether in fact my friend, MR. BERNACCHI, is not just being realistic by recognizing already a situation which in fact exists. By putting wheels on hawkers or rather hawkers on wheels, we might even render the Policeman's lot an even less attractive one than it is said to be at the present time, and I do hope that all aspects of the problem have been brought to the attention of the Commissioner of Police. Otherwise, his recruiting campaign might be prejudiced as a result of the mobility of hawkers under the new dispensation.
MR. BERNACCHI:- They will have to get a licence for their vehicles.
The question was put.
The motion was carried.
## ADJOURNMENT
CHAIRMAN:- That concludes the business of this meeting. Council stands adjourned until Tuesday, 3rd July, 1962.
99
Page 57 of 150
150
98
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR. R. H. S. LEE, Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee, moved the following motion:-
THAT the Ventilation (Amendment) By-laws, 1962, be made under section 88 of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, 1960.
He said: Mr. Chairman, I will not take up Members' time by going at length into this motion. The Explanatory Note which accom- panies it is very clear and does not require elaboration on my part.
I have much pleasure in moving this motion that stands in my name.
MR. K. A. Watson seconded.
The question was put.
The motion was carried.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, Chairman of the Hawkers Select Committee, moved the following motion:-
THAT under By-law No. 6 of the Hawker By-laws, 1960, the areas prescribed in the attached schedule* shall be publish- ed in the Gazette as areas in which hawking by means of mobile shops and mobile canteens may be carried on.
He said: Mr. Chairman, mobile shops and canteens are common- place in many countries today particularly in places where normal com- munications and services have not yet been developed. This latter fact was appreciated by the Law Revision Select Committee in its approach to the recasting of what are now the Hawker By-laws, 1960, and which specifically envisage what I might term mobile hawking.
Inquiries have recently come in as to the licensing of these types of hawker vehicles and it is necessary to take the first step in gazetting areas which will enable the department to deal authoritatively with requests and queries from firms showing interest in this new (at least for Hong Kong) sales medium. As the vehicle used must inevitably come under the various vehicle regulations supervised by the Commis- sioner of Police, the Council and the Commissioner have co-operated together in working out a first preliminary list and after much delibera- tion these areas are now set out in the paper before Members.
As Members are aware, other interested Select Committees of this Council have also been consulted, especially those dealing with Public Health and Resettlement. The present list will afford to the Council time and opportunity to assess the merits and demerits of this type of licence and we are, of course, prepared to consider any further particular
* See Appendix A.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
99
areas that are suggested to us by those interested in this connexion. The areas do not include the New Territories, except New Kowloon, for which the Council is not yet responsible, but I understand that the Commissioner of the New Territories will shortly be gazetting a similar list covering those parts of the Colony within his jurisdiction. Sir, with this brief explanation and as Chairman of the Hawkers Select Com- mittee, I beg to move the motion standing in my name.
MR. WILFRED S. B. WONG seconded.
DR. A. M. S. BELL:-Mr. Chairman, in this connexion, from a public health point of view, our Committee has considered very care- fully the question of whether this was going to overlap perhaps with food hawking and hawking as such in urban districts of the Colony, and I would like to make it clear now that the Committee at that time left that these mobile shops and canteens should be very much confined to country districts. In most other countries they are designed for areas where there are no other facilities. I think it should be pointed out in connexion with this motion that we should watch that by licensing these mobile shops and canteens we are not affecting the livelihood of small shops in districts of the Colony, such as resettlement districts and so on. I think we have taken care so far to do that and hope we continue to do so.
MR. A. de O. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I rise to support my col- league's motion with, in fact, some misgivings. Hawkers have never struck me as being lacking in mobility. In fact, whenever Urban Coun- cillors visit markets and hawkers are tipped off that Urban Councillors are coming, they have shown remarkable alacrity in moving their baskets away from passages and approaches to our markets. Sir, I wonder whether in fact my friend, Mr. BERNACCHI, is not just being realistic by recognizing already a situation which in fact exists. By putting wheels on hawkers or rather hawkers on wheels, we might even render the Policeman's lot an even less attractive one than it is said to be at the present time, and I do hope that all aspects of the problem have been brought to the attention of the Commissioner of Police. Otherwise, his recruiting campaign might be prejudiced as a result of the mobility of hawkers under the new dispensation.
MR. BERNACCHI :-They will have to get a licence for their vehicles. The question was put.
The motion was carried.
ADJOURNMENT.
CHAIRMAN:-That concludes the business of this meeting. Council stands adjourned until Tuesday, 3rd July, 1962.
Page 57 of 150
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.