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high-lighting the various shortages and deficiencies such as open spaces, play areas, markets, museum and indoor stadium. But I don't want to hog everything and leave nothing for other Members to speak about. (Laughter).
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, for the Appointed Members, may I say we are deeply grateful to Dr. LEE. (Laughter).
DR. LEE:-But there is one point I wish to emphasize and that is our faith in the future of Hong Kong in this atomic age of peaceful co-existence. Once that faith is gone, everything is lost. Our cosmopolitan city is not a poor community but a rich one: we must mobilize every resource we have to make Hong Kong a model city of the East and I hope every man, woman and child will play their part to make it so.
Mr. Chairman, we have in the past received the greatest assistance, co-operation and sometimes guidance from your Department and I would like to endorse the remarks of other Members who have expressed their thanks to you in leading your able team, and with these remarks, I have much pleasure in supporting the motion now before Council.
MR. FUNG HON-CHU: Mr. Chairman, the Statement of Aims for 1965 presents a very impressive list of actions proposed for the coming year, and as in years past, I am afraid that results will fall short of the aims unless we can step up the efficiency of the departments concerned with the carrying out of these aims. Sir, we are agreed that it is not easy to keep pace with the rate of expansion that we have been experiencing and it is understandable that we should have run into occasional snags in the course of implementation. In view of the heavy odds that we have had to face, the accomplishments of the past year can be said to have been gratifying and I think Government deserves a pat on the back. But with all round greater efficiency, I am confident that a great deal of the frustrations that we have encountered in the past could be avoided in the future. The question that is uppermost in our minds is, without doubt, how to achieve that high degree of efficiency which we desire so much. To answer this, we might ask another question, namely, what is the cause of inefficiency? Is it due to lack of finance, shortage of staff, or is it because the system is at fault? Or maybe corruption has something to do with it? Or is it due to a combination of all these factors? Personally, I am inclined to hold the view that we have got to come to grips not with just one or two but with a combination of factors and I would urge that steps be taken to ensure that these are properly resolved, if we are to achieve better results in the coming year.
To support my contention that there is need for greater efficiency, I might give a few examples.
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The failure to enforce certain By-laws governing refuse collection is one good example. I recall having brought this up, time and again, during the past few years and although each time action was promised, it seems that the situation is no better to-day than it was at that time. The machinery for enforcement is there, but somewhere along the line, something seems to go wrong. Another example is the service of meals on premises licensed only as food factories. This subject was also brought up by me at our November Meeting in 1962 and, despite measures taken to keep the matter under control, some food factories still continue to flout the Government regulation with impunity. The Urban Services Department may have viewed these as minor offences, but it is surely disturbing that there should have been so many violations of our law. They point to the weaknesses in our system and to the necessity of revoking all by-laws or regulations that have been found to be not enforceable. It is certainly far better to scrap these than to allow malpractices to flourish through the continued existence of these by-laws.
As Chairman of the Food and Food Premises Select Committee, I am able to say that generally speaking, inspection of food and food premises has been no more than token inspections. The consensus of opinion holds that these inspections are not rigid enough and amount to a mockery. The many cases of food poisoning alone in recent months in establishments that should have been beyond reproach in the matter of food cleanliness, are an eloquent commentary on the inadequacy of routine inspections carried out by our Health Inspectors. The reported cases of food poisoning were by no means the only cases. It is reasonable to assume that there have been many others similarly affected, but because the victims were individuals rather than groups, they did not receive the same publicity. This could be due to shortage of staff, but, nevertheless, it shows up the weaknesses in inspection all too glaringly and again bears out my earlier remark that efficiency needs to be improved. I would like, therefore, to see measures introduced for a tighter supervision on inspectors to ensure that the highest efficiency is achieved. If, to bring up efficiency we need a larger inspectorate, then we should make representations to Government for more funds for this Department.
As I have said enough about efficiency or indeed the lack of it, I should like to turn my attention to other subjects.
First allow me to speak on Hawkers, in addition to what Mr. MARDEN has told us. The official figures place the licensed hawkers at over 31,000 and the unlicensed at approximately 60,000. This is a colossal figure and this figure will undoubtedly continue to grow. It is a strange phenomenon that while there is shortage of labour in the factories, there should be so many, who for want of better things to do
Page 216 of 312
Page 216 of 312
408
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
high-lighting the various shortages and deficiencies such as open spaces, play areas, markets, museum and indoor stadium. But I don't want to hog everything and leave nothing for other Members to speak about. (Laughter).
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, for the Appointed Members, may I say we are deeply grateful to Dr. LEE. (Laughter).
DR. LEE:-But there is one point I wish to emphasize and that is our faith in the future of Hong Kong in this atomic age of peaceful co- existence. Once that faith is gone, everything is lost. Our cosmopolitan city is not a poor community but a rich one: we must mobilize every resource we have to make Hong Kong a model city of the East and I hope every man, woman and child will play their part to make it so.
Mr. Chairman, we have in the past received the greatest assistance, co-operation and sometimes guidance from your Department and I would like to endorse the remarks of other Members who have expressed their thanks to you in leading your able team, and with these remarks, I have much pleasure in supporting the motion now before Council.
MR. FUNG HON-CHU: Mr. Chairman, the Statement of Aims for 1965 presents a very impressive list of actions proposed for the coming year, and as in years past, I am afraid that results will fall short of the aims unless we can step up the efficiency of the departments concerned with the carrying out of these aims. Sir, we are agreed that it is not easy to keep pace with the rate of expansion that we have been ex- periencing and it is understandable that we should have run into occasional snags in the course of implementation. In view of the heavy odds that we have had to face, the accomplishments of the past year can be said to have been gratifying and I think Government deserves a pat on the back. But with all round greater efficiency, I am confident that a great deal of the frustrations that we have encountered in the past could be avoided in the future. The question that is uppermost in our minds is, without doubt, how to achieve that high degree of efficiency which we desire so much. To answer this, we might ask another question, namely, what is the cause of inefficiency? Is it due to lack of finance, shortage of staff, or is it because the system is at fault? Or maybe corruption has something to do with it? Or is it due to a combination of all these factors? Personally, I am inclined to hold the view that we have got to come to grips not with just one or two but with a combination of factors and I would urge that steps be taken to ensure that these are properly resolved, if we are to achieve better results in the coming year.
To support my contention that there is need for greater efficiency, I might give a few examples.
!
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
409
The failure to enforce certain By-laws governing refuse collection is one good example. I recall having brought this up, time and again, during the past few years and although each time action was promised, it seems that the situation is no better to-day than it was at that time. The machinery for enforcement is there, but somewhere along the line, something seems to go wrong. Another example is the service of meals on premises licensed only as food factories. This subject was also brought up by me at our November Meeting in 1962 and, despite measures taken to keep the matter under control, some food factories still continue to flout the Government regulation with impunity. The Urban Services Department may have viewed these as minor offences, but it is surely disturbing that there should have been so many violations of our law. They point to the weaknesses in our system and to the necessity of revoking all by-laws or regulations that have been found to be not enforceable. It is certainly far better to scrap these than to allow malpractices to flourish through the continued existence of these by-laws.
As Chairman of the Food and Food Premises Select Committee, I am able to say that generally speaking, inspection of food and food premises has been no more than token inspections. The consensus of opinion holds that these inspections are not rigid enough and amount to a mockery. The many cases of food poisoning alone in recent months in establishments that should have been beyond reproach in the matter of food cleanliness, are an eloquent commentary on the inadequacy of routine inspections carried out by our Health Inspectors. The reported It is reason- cases of food poisoning were by no means the only cases. able to assume that there have been many others similarly affected, but because the victims were individuals rather than groups, they did not receive the same publicity. This could be due to shortage of staff, but, nevertheless, it shows up the weaknesses in inspection all too glaringly and again bears out my earlier remark that efficiency needs to be improved. I would like, therefore, to see measures introduced for a tighter supervision on inspectors to ensure that the highest efficiency is achieved. If, to bring up efficiency we need a larger inspectorate, then we should make representations to Government for more funds for this Department.
As I have said enough about efficiency or indeed the lack of it, I should like to turn my attention to other subjects.
First allow me to speak on Hawkers, in addition to what Mr. MARDEN has told us. The official figures place the licensed hawkers at over 31,000 and the unlicensed at approximately 60,000. This is a colossal figure and this figure will undoubtedly continue to grow. It is a strange phenomenon that while there is shortage of labour in the factories, there should be so many, who for want of better things to do
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