1964 — Page 217

B12

Page 217 of 312

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have chosen to join the ranks of hawkers. To prevent the situation from getting out of hand, we must lose no time to find ways and means to direct this huge labour potential to industry. This is admittedly a huge problem, for while many are, no doubt, able-bodied and willing, they are for the most part raw and untrained for work in industry. Even if there were openings for unskilled labour, the necessity for setting up a proper organization to guide and assist them in finding jobs in industry would be no less. I submit that part of this responsibility rests with us in this Council and I urge that we put our heads together to find a solution to what certainly is a difficult and serious social problem. May I request that this, my suggestion of directing this huge labour potential to industry, be carefully and thoroughly studied by the Hawkers Select Committee. If necessary, an ad hoc committee com- prising representatives of this Council, the industries and of other Government Departments concerned might be formed for this purpose.

Now, I come to Markets. It has always been a problem keeping our markets clean. The insanitary conditions there are an eyesore and afford little attraction to the housewife. As the shortage of domestic help is likely to become more keenly felt in future, shopping for provi- sions can be expected to be done more and more by housewives them- selves, and as this trend continues, private provision shops are bound to be more extensively patronized in preference to retail markets, with a result that the latter will eventually become out of date and redundant. It is for this reason that I feel that Government should not proceed with new markets. If I may hazard a guess, the day will not be too distant when the existing markets will no longer be able to serve the purpose for which they were intended. Rather than spend huge sums of money on building a limited number of new markets, Government might as well spend a fraction of this money, for building, wherever possible, bazaars for licensed hawkers as a measure to separate the licensed from the unlicensed. This will result in easier control and will pave the way for a gradual reduction of the Hawker Control Force and of considerable Government expenditure. If new markets must be proceeded with for reasons which as yet I am unable to see, I would urge that Government pay particular attention to their architectural planning which should provide for similar facilities as found in super- markets in the Western Countries, so as to give them a complete new look and to enable the housewives to shop in comfort and with pleasure.

At this point, Mr. Chairman, I should like to return to the subject of Food and Food Premises and talk on two other aspects.

In the matter of Restaurants in Resettlement Estates, there has never been a policy governing the ratio of restaurants to population. The Resettlement Department has taken it upon itself to set a ratio of one restaurant per 5,000 people. In the urban areas, we have over

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2,000 licensed restaurants and this works out to a ratio of one res- taurant for approximately 1,500 people. The difference is the more significant when we consider that the kitchen facilities in Resettlement Estates are certainly not as good as those in the urban areas, and it is most disturbing to note that this unrealistic ratio adopted by the Resettlement Department has resulted in the springing up of numerous unlicensed cooked food stalls and food pedlars to meet the demand of the population there. The Department needs to be reminded that a policy had been made by Council whereby all cooked food stalls were to be cleared as rapidly as conditions would permit. I would urge, therefore, that the question of the restaurant ratio for Resettlement Estates be thoroughly examined by the Resettlement Policy Select Committee so that a more realistic ratio may emerge and our hope of clearing all cooked food stalls from the streets may be ultimately realized.

With regard to licences for food establishments, Council has always exercised the greatest care to ensure that the time for the processing of applications is reduced to the minimum, well knowing that delays are bound to create opportunities for corruption. The standing procedure is for the Urban Services Department to remit the applications on the day after the date of receipt to the departments concerned for further action. Our records show that the Urban Services Department has never deviated from this procedure but for the Fire Services Depart- ment, it took an average of 25 days to inform this Council of require- ments to be met by applicants for applications from Hong Kong side and an average of 36 days for Kowloon. After the requirements had been completed, it again took an average of 15 days for this same department to check those on Hong Kong side and an average of 30 days in the case of Kowloon. As to the time taken by the Building Authority, it averaged 21 days for Hong Kong and 24 days for Kowloon. You would agree, Mr. Chairman, that this period of wait- ing was unusually long. It is most unfair that the public should have to wait for any longer period than absolutely necessary, and I strongly urge that this Council immediately take up this matter with the depart- ments concerned to bring about better co-operation.

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, I deplore the discrimination against Kowloon even in the matter of procrastination on the part of Government.

MR. FUNG:-Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I have the pleasure to support the motion before Council.

DR. P. F. Woo:-Mr. Chairman, as this may be the last Conven- tional Debate of the Council in which I take a part, I avail myself of