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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN.

Before taking the first item on to-day's agenda I would like to extend our congratulations to Mr. Wilfred WONG on his appointment to the Legislative Council. (Applause).

MR. WONG:-Thank you.

MR. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Unofficials, may I welcome you back to the chair. (Applause).

CHAIRMAN: --Thank you very much.

MINUTES.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 1st October, 1963, were confirmed.

PAPERS.

THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following papers:-

(1) Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban

Services Department for the month of October 1963. (2) Urban Council and Urban Services Department Statistical Report for the period 1st July, 1963, to 30th September, 1963.

(3) Report by the Commissioner for Resettlement on the progress of clearance and resettlement operations during the period 1st July, 1963, to 30th September, 1963.

QUESTIONS.

MR. J. L. MARDEN asked the following question:

Now that the piling for the new slaughterhouse in Kennedy Town is expected to commence early in 1964, will the Chairman please state whether: ----

(a) plans have been made for the use of the site at Smithfield, which will be freed in consequence, and (b) the new area earmarked for offensive trades at Aberdeen and Tsing I Island would be available so that the bone processing industry in the Kennedy Town area could be moved simultaneously?

THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:

(a) The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The existing slaughterhouse is expected to close down in 1966. In general it is proposed to use the

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site for community purposes such as a market, a post office, a secondary school and a playground. The precise details of these projects have not yet been worked out.

(b) With regard to the second part of the question, the possibility of removing bone-processing establishments from Kennedy Town has been the subject of a recent memorandum for consideration by the Offensive Trades and Slaughterhouses Select Committee at its next meeting.

Briefly, the position is that an area at Kwai Chung will possibly be available within six months, an area on the southern end of Tsing Yi is available now, but there are difficulties of access and site formation and an area of 8 acres at the western end of the Aberdeen reclamation may become available for offensive trades associated with the fishing industry.

The advice of the Select Committee has been sought, in the memorandum referred to, on lines of action to expedite a solution to this long-standing problem. These include proposals for the establishment of a modern bone- processing plant at Kwai Chung and the installation of new, up-to-date equipment in all the bone-processing plants in the Colony.

In the circumstances I cannot say whether the industry can be moved from Kennedy Town simul- taneously with the establishment of the new slaughter- house in that area.

MR. MARDEN: -Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

DR. LEE:-Mr. Chairman, this question of offensive trades in Kennedy Town is a matter which is very close to my heart, and I wonder whether, in view of your reply when a new bone factory is established in Kwai Chung, all offensive matters arising from this trade will be eliminated when the new one is installed.

CHAIRMAN:-I beg your pardon. I do not quite understand your

question.

DR. LEE: -You know that the present bone-processing factories in Kennedy Town give rise to a lot of complaints about offensiveness. I wonder whether these complaints will be met when the new bone- processing factory is erected in Kwai Chung.

CHAIRMAN:-There is more than one bone-processing plant at Kennedy Town. Those which do not move to Kwai Chung hope that by modernization they will make themselves unoffensive. Perhaps the

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