1963 — Page 63

Page 63 of 194

110

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:

This question concerns Tse Fa, a system of gambling, in which participants mark Chinese characters on a sheet of paper. Periodically the winning character is announced.

It is certainly true that Tse Fa is played in Wong Tai Sin Resettlement Estate, as indeed it is in many other places in Hong Kong. No special equipment being needed, the exact place where the game is established can be easily varied from day to day and week to week to avoid detection.

Convictions for Tse Fa gambling at Wong Tai Sin in the last six months numbered 18. It may be of interest for purposes of comparison that in the Lei Cheng Uk Estate 23 persons have been convicted since 1st April last. Prevention and detection of offences under the Gambling Ordinance are the responsibility of the Commissioner of Police, and there is no action that the Department can take under the Ordinance. Cottage Area Permits and Estate Tenancy Cards contain general conditions prohibiting activities which cause a nuisance or annoyance to other tenants; and there is power to evict. Until recently it was the Resettlement Department's policy to evict convicted offenders but on 21st March the Select Committee decided that such evictions should only take place when the offender committed an offence in his own accommodation. Tse Fa can be played anywhere and there are thus unlikely to be grounds for future eviction under this ruling which is to be reviewed in September.

It is my intention to take up at the next meeting of the Select Committee the desirability of counter-propaganda.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, may I ask the Commissioner for Resettlement whether Government has considered the suggestion that a possible way to counteract the illegal sale of Tse Fa lottery tickets in Resettlement Estates would be for Government to open up sales offices for Government lottery tickets in Resettlement Estates?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- I am afraid I am unaware of any such suggestion, but it would in any case probably not have come my way.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Would the Commissioner for Resettlement be good enough to refer this suggestion to Government? Arising out of this question, Mr. Chairman, if it is in order with you, could I ask the Commissioner which other Resettlement Estates are selling fairly extensive Tse Fa lotteries, apart from Wong Tai Sin and Lei Cheng Uk?

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

111

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Personally I have not bought any Tse Fa myself, but I am quite satisfied that it is very active in most of the larger Estates, particularly the older ones.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- May I ask through you, Mr. Chairman, that this matter be drawn again to the attention of the Police, especially since from information which has come to my attention, in an estate like Wong Tai Sin, the sale of Tse Fa is highly organized, in fact on a floor by floor basis, and that quite often these lottery tickets come into the hands of young children. I think many of us are particularly interested in seeing that the Police make every effort to reduce the sale of Tse Fa to the minimum.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, if it is in order with you, I would like to revert to Question No. 3- the last paragraph of your reply in which, I believe, there seems to be a suggestion from you that Members should consider finding a name for the new park. Do I understand, Sir, that you would like to change the name of Kowloon Tsai Park to Jack Kennedy Park?

CHAIRMAN: Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, that question should have come earlier.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Is that the best way to dodge the question, Mr. Chairman?

MR. SALES:- Should we refer it to the Street Names and Hotel Names Select Committee? (Laughter).

MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:

In order to increase employment opportunities for resettlement residents, will the Commissioner for Resettlement please inquire from Government what it proposes to do to assist in the expansion of small-scale industries in Resettlement Estates, by the provision of more flatted factory space at reasonable rental, by technical advice where needed, etc.?

THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:

The present policy of the Resettlement Department is to offer resettlement to small scale industries that have to be cleared in the course of normal land clearance operations. In some cases it is necessary to require industrialists to change their trades on clearance to ones acceptable in resettlement flatted factories.

Page 64 of 194