HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN.
Before taking the first item on today's agenda, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to welcome, in absentia, Mr. McDOUALL, and in presence Mr. BARON back to this Council.
I feel sure that Members will also wish me to express our appreciation of the services of Mr. SEDGWICK and Mr. ALEXANDER during the time when they were sitting on the Council.
MINUTES.
The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 7th May, 1963, were confirmed.
PAPERS.
THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following paper:-
Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban Services Department for the month of May 1963.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I assume that you have no communication that you would like to make under Standing Order 5(d)?
CHAIRMAN: Later in the meeting.
QUESTIONS.
MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question :-
(a) Because of the re-development of many areas resulting in changes of population, are routes, frequencies, stops and hours of the refuse collection service under periodic review by your Department?
(b) What control and supervision does your Department exercise in practice over private refuse collectors? How many are there actually operating in the urban areas?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:-
Frequencies of refuse collection, siting of refuse collection stops, and hours of collection, are all interrelated, and a change in any one of these may affect the scheduling of a refuse collection route as a whole. There are a number of factors which necessitate changes in refuse collection routing. The most important of these are new building and re-development of old property, traffic diversions, and the introduction of new types of refuse collecting vehicles into service. Since such changes may occur at any time, and indeed are constantly occurring, the scheduling of refuse collection routes, has, in practice, to be under continuous review. If alterations are necessary they are made wherever possible. Due regard is paid to the fact that the private refuse collectors and the public generally grow used to particular times and places of collection. For a variety of reasons it is not necessarily easy to resite refuse collection stops. At the present time 32 stops in Hong Kong and 42 in Kowloon are under investigation as "problem stops". The assistance of the Traffic Branch of the Police Force has been enlisted.
With regard to the second part of the question, the private refuse collector is subject to the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances By-laws. The Department's junior supervisory staff are required to obtain compliance with the by-laws by the refuse collectors. If advice and exhortation fail prosecution has to be resorted to. Prosecutions against private refuse collectors for non-compliance with the by-laws have been averaging about 80 a month during the last 12 months.
The number of private refuse collectors operating in the urban area is believed to be 883 in Hong Kong and 1,080 in Kowloon, a total of 1,963.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary arising out of the information given in the last paragraph of your reply? Is there a register of private refuse collectors giving the names and addresses of the 883 collectors in Hong Kong and the more than 1,000 in Kowloon?
CHAIRMAN: No, Sir, there is no such register. The details were obtained by the junior supervisory staff, who visited all the major collection points where the private refuse collectors operate. They enquired over a period of time—I do not know how long, perhaps two or three weeks—and we have compiled our own list.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Would the Chairman care to explain briefly why there has so far been no attempt to license or to recommend to this Council that refuse collectors should be licensed?
CHAIRMAN: Sir, you ask me to explain briefly, but in a paper which is now just a month old it required three foolscap pages to go into the question of licensing private refuse collectors. I think the main point is that we are still following the approved policy of the
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN.
Before taking the first item on today's agenda, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to welcome, in absentia, Mr. McDOUALL, and in presence Mr. BARON back to this Council.
I feel sure that Members will also wish me to express our appreciation of the services of Mr. SEDGWICK and Mr. ALEXANDER during the time when they were sitting on the Council.
MINUTES.
The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 7th May, 1963, were confirmed.
PAPERS.
THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following paper:-
Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban Services
Department for the month of May 1963.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I assume that you have no com- munication that you would like to make under Standing Order 5(d)?
CHAIRMAN:-Later in the meeting.
QUESTIONS.
MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question :-
(a) Because of the re-development of many areas resulting in changes of population, are routes, frequencies, stops and hours of the refuse collection service under periodic review by your Department?
(b) What control and supervision does your Department exercise in practice over private refuse collectors? How many are there actually operating in the urban areas?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:-
Frequencies of refuse collection, siting of refuse collection stops, and hours of collection, are all interrelated, and a change in any one of these may affect the scheduling of a refuse collection route as a whole. There are a number of factors which necessitate changes in refuse collection routing. The most important of these are new building and re-development of old property, traffic diversions, and
the introduction of new types of refuse collecting vehicles into service. Since such changes may occur at any time, and indeed are constantly occurring, the scheduling of refuse collection routes, has, in practice, to be under continuous review. If alterations are necessary they are made wherever possible. Due regard is paid to the fact that the private refuse collectors and the public generally grow used to particular times and places of collection. For a variety of reasons it is not necessarily easy to resite refuse collection stops. At the present time 32 stops in Hong Kong and 42 in Kowloon are under investigation as "problem stops". The assistance of the Traffic Branch of the Police Force has been enlisted.
With regard to the second part of the question, the private refuse collector is subject to the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances By-laws. The Department's junior supervisory staff are required to obtain compliance with the by-laws by the refuse collectors. If advice and exhortation fail prosecution has to be resorted to. Pro- secutions against private refuse collectors for non- compliance with the by-laws have been averaging about 80 a month during the last 12 months.
The number of private refuse collectors operating in the urban area is believed to be 883 in Hong Kong and 1,080 in Kowloon, a total of 1,963.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary arising out of the information given in the last paragraph of your reply? Is there a register of private refuse collectors giving the names and addresses of the 883 collectors in Hong Kong and the more than 1,000 in Kowloon?
CHAIRMAN:-No, Sir, there is no such register. The details were obtained by the junior supervisory staff, who visited all the major collection points where the private refuse collectors operate. They enquired over a period of time-I do not know how long, perhaps two or three weeks-and we have compiled our own list.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Would the Chairman care to explain briefly why there has so far been no attempt to license or to recommend to this Council that refuse collectors should be licensed?
CHAIRMAN: Sir, you ask me to explain briefly, but in a paper which is now just a month old it required three foolscap pages to go into the question of licensing private refuse collectors. I think the main point is that we are still following the approved policy of the
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