HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
on the hawkers in large numbers, resulting in a large number of petitions to the Urban Council, particularly as the Courts themselves have been fining the individual pedlar hawker in greater and greater amounts. There might, I think, have been better liaison between the Police and ourselves at the commencement of their campaign, but I am assured that the hawkers themselves have had ample warnings of the action that the Police proposed to take, and did in fact take, and they have only themselves to blame.
Hong Kong is getting more and more crowded and our streets must be left reasonably free for the public to walk upon and indeed, for cars to get along, although I must say that I have not much sympathy when it comes to urging the Council to do away with fixed pitch or other stalls for the purpose of putting metered parking-places instead. The hawker has a right to earn his living just as much as anyone else. Also, as I said the other day in my address to a passing-out parade of the Hawker Control Force, a hawker has just as much rights and duties as anyone else in trying to earn his living in a legal manner. But the hawkers themselves must understand that they are but a fraction of the total community of Hong Kong and they cannot monopolize the streets that they hawk in, to the total exclusion of every other form of transport, form of people and I include therein the shopkeepers themselves. We in the Hawkers Select Committee and in conjunction with the Police in Kowloon are investigating the possibility of allowing the pedlar hawkers to have barrows of some sort that can be moved about the streets, thus making way for fire engines and ambulances in an emergency and at the same time making it far easier for our street cleaning staff to clean the streets. No decision has, of course, been reached on this barrow system as yet, and obviously the Traffic Office will also have to come into the discussion, as presumably a barrow is a vehicle!
The previous decision to ultimately get all pedlar hawkers inside composite markets I think is impossible of realization and we will have to think again on this whole problem. Even in Tang Lung Chau the market was not big enough to accommodate all the pedlar hawkers and that was the start of the trouble that we have met with in this market in particular. Also the housewives are not prepared to walk upstairs and the second floor of Tang Lung Chau Market is more or less abandoned except for storage of goods by stall-holders who have stalls on the ground floor. The problem of the housewife being willing to walk up to purchase meat, fish and vegetables when she can purchase them on the ground floor has always seemed insurmountable. I did, some years ago, suggest that we try to install lifts or moving staircases and see whether that would induce the housewife to go upstairs, but I am afraid to say that the Public Works Department vetoed my plan. If the housewife cannot be got to go upstairs then we will have to be
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
content with markets on the ground floor. Perhaps as time goes on and more shops become licensed as food premises, even the need for markets will gradually be reduced. But at the moment I suggest that the upper floors of markets be used for some purpose such as low-cost housing or even children's playgrounds and, where necessary, general office accommodation. I suggest low-cost housing in particular, as it was originally a suggestion made by my friend Dr. Raymond LEE many years ago and I have come more and more to agree with it. In a city like Hong Kong it is a waste of space, time and labour to build a one or two storey structure when a 12 storey structure or more could be built providing low-cost housing for the community.
Mr. Chairman, Sir, I think I have already exceeded more than my allotted time (Laughter) and I thank you for your grace in this matter. So I will say no more than that I wish to congratulate Mr. STEVENS, the Commandant of the Hawker Control Force on his obvious initiative displayed in his control of the Force. The Hawker Control Force, being in effect my own "baby" as I was one of the original sub-committee Members that recommended the Hawker Control Force being formed, I want to say, and I hope the newspapers do publish this part of my speech (Laughter), to this Council and to the members of the Hawker Control Force that theirs is an arduous but productive duty, the rates of pay are not equal to the Police Force rates of pay, but perhaps their job is a happier one than a policeman's lot. They are the contact that the Urban Council has with the hawkers, they should be tolerant in taking the hawkers to Courts which should only be done in the last extreme, but firm in insisting that the hawkers comply with this Council's by-laws, and above all they should not give way to the temptation of corruption because corruption is the curse of Hong Kong. It is only in the younger generation and only in the morals of the younger generation that Hong Kong can hope to overcome this curse and corruption be seen for the evil that it is.
With these words, Mr. Chairman, as I indicated in the beginning of my speech, I am happy to support this motion. (Applause).
MR. A. de O. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I would have been happier had it been possible for me to support without reservation the partiality which you show increasingly towards our Elected colleagues. Without waiving Standing Orders you allowed my Senior Unofficial Member to speak for nearly half an hour. I congratulate him on the force and sincerity of his remarks. Nevertheless, Mr. Chairman, I feel that I must reserve the position of the Appointed Members when it comes to an enlargement of the Urban Council. To be sure, there is enough work for many more Unofficial Members, but I would like to suggest that more Appointed Members be brought into this Council, so as to be able to offset any possible combination of Government and Elected
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on the hawkers in large numbers, resulting in a large number of petitions to the Urban Council, particularly as the Courts themselves have been fining the individual pedlar hawker in greater and greater amounts. There might, I think, have been better liaison between the Police and ourselves at the commencement of their campaign, but I am assured that the hawkers themselves have had ample warnings of the action that the Police proposed to take, and did in fact take, and they have only them- selves to blame.
Hong Kong is getting more and more crowded and our streets must be left reasonably free for the public to walk upon and indeed, for cars to get along, although I must say that I have not much sympathy when it comes to urging the Council to do away with fixed pitch or other stalls for the purpose of putting metered parking-places instead. The hawker has a right to earn his living just as much as anyone else. Also, as I said the other day in my address to a passing- out parade of the Hawker Control Force, a hawker has just as much rights and duties as anyone else in trying to earn his living in a legal manner. But the hawkers themselves must understand that they are but a fraction of the total community of Hong Kong and they cannot mono- polize the streets that they hawk in, to the total exclusion of every other form of transport, form of people and I include therein the shopkeepers themselves. We in the Hawkers Select Committee and in conjunction with the Police in Kowloon are investigating the possibility of allowing the pedlar hawkers to have barrows of some sort that can be moved about the streets, thus making way for fire engines and ambulances in an emergency and at the same time making it far easier for our street cleaning staff to clean the streets. No decision has, of course, been reached on this barrow system as yet, and obviously the Traffic Office will also have to come into the discussion, as presumably a barrow is a vehicle!
The previous decision to ultimately get all pedlar hawkers inside composite markets I think is impossible of realization and we will have to think again on this whole problem. Even in Tang Lung Chau the market was not big enough to accommodate all the pedlar hawkers and that was the start of the trouble that we have met with in this market in particular. Also the housewives are not prepared to walk upstairs and the second floor of Tang Lung Chau Market is more or less abandoned except for storage of goods by stall-holders who have stalls on the ground floor. The problem of the housewife being willing to walk up to purchase meat, fish and vegetables when she can purchase them on the ground floor has always seemed insurmountable. I did, some years ago, suggest that we try to install lifts or moving staircases and see whether that would induce the housewife to go upstairs, but I am afraid to say that the Public Works Department vetoed my plan. If the housewife cannot be got to go upstairs then we will have to be
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
233
content with markets on the ground floor. Perhaps as time goes on and more shops become licensed as food premises, even the need for markets will gradually be reduced. But at the moment I suggest that the upper floors of markets be used for some purpose such as low-cost housing or even children's playgrounds and, where necessary, general office accommodation. I suggest low-cost housing in particular, as it was originally a suggestion made by my friend Dr. Raymond LEE many years ago and I have come more and more to agree with it. In a city like Hong Kong it is a waste of space, time and labour to build a one or two storey structure when a 12 storey structure or more could be built providing low-cost housing for the community.
Mr. Chairman, Sir, I think I have already exceeded more than my allotted time (Laughter) and I thank you for your grace in this matter. So I will say no more than that I wish to congratulate Mr. STEVENS, the Commandant of the Hawker Control Force on his obvious initiative displayed in his control of the Force. The Hawker Control Force, being in effect my own "baby" as I was one of the original sub- committee Members that recommended the Hawker Control Force being formed, I want to say, and I hope the newspapers do publish this part of my speech (Laughter), to this Council and to the members of the Hawker Control Force that theirs is an arduous but productive duty, the rates of pay are not equal to the Police Force rates of pay, but perhaps their job is a happier one than a policeman's lot. They are the contact that the Urban Council has with the hawkers, they should be tolerant in taking the hawkers to Courts which should only be done in the last extreme, but firm in insisting that the hawkers comply with this Council's by-laws, and above all they should not give way to the temptation of corruption because corruption is the curse of Hong Kong. It is only in the younger generation and only in the morals of the younger generation that Hong Kong can hope to overcome this curse and corruption be seen for the evil that it is.
With these words, Mr. Chairman, as I indicated in the beginning of my speech, I am happy to support this motion. (Applause).
MR. A. de O. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I would have been happier had it been possible for me to support without reservation the partiality which you show increasingly towards our Elected colleagues. Without waiving Standing Orders you allowed my Senior Unofficial Member to speak for nearly half an hour. I congratulate him on the force and sincerity of his remarks. Nevertheless, Mr. Chairman, I feel that I must reserve the position of the Appointed Members when it comes to an enlargement of the Urban Council. To be sure, there is enough work for many more Unofficial Members, but I would like to suggest that more Appointed Members be brought into this Council, so as to be able to offset any possible combination of Government and Elected
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