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here is to secure compliance with the law by means of education and persuasion wherever possible, rather than by legal action. The blame for contravention must be laid fairly and squarely on those licensees who put business profits before their civic responsibilities. With regard to licensed food premises, I agree that more intensive inspection is required. On a large scale this could only be effected at present by cutting down on other necessary work or by increasing the establishment of inspectors. Unfortunately it takes three years to train a Health Inspector but I agree that consideration should be given to increasing their number for this particular purpose. Meantime, Mr. FUNG's suggestion is being studied and further proposals are being put to the Select Committee which may improve matters. It must not be forgotten that surprise inspections of licensed food premises are carried out each week by senior staff of the Department, including health officers. These inspections, although designed to check and improve the standard of inspection carried out by health inspectors, serve the additional purpose of keeping restaurant managements on their toes and enabling authoritative advice to be given where needed.

In regard to outbreaks of food poisoning I would like to emphasize that they are largely due to personal carelessness on the part of restaurant employees. Carelessness in any stage of food preparation may have dire results. So far this year, 80 outbreaks of food poisoning have been investigated as compared with 20 during 1963. This increase can in part be ascribed to better co-operation with the hospitals dealing with these cases and a wider appreciation of the Urban Services Department's concern by members of the public. Of the 80 incidents 66 were domestic outbreaks and only 14 came from licensed food premises. As there is no compulsory notification of food poisoning here, as in some countries, reliance has to be placed on voluntary notification from hospitals, and from affected or interested persons. This year, 56 of these outbreaks were notified by Government hospitals, and most of the remainder by persons affected or their friends. It is my belief that standards will further improve as restaurant owners come to realize that clean food leads to better business. If every patron would reject cracked or chipped crockery or dirty glassware and complain to the management when dirty conditions prevail, improvement would automatically result.

I again support Mr. MARDEN's suggestion that all factories of any size should provide canteens for their staff. There is a great need to combat the problem of illegal food hawking and I agree that more bazaars are needed to accommodate these people and to control them. In many cases, food is made under the most unhygienic conditions; this is dangerous not only from possible food poisoning (and I would recall the outbreak earlier this year when many children became ill from consumption of ice cream made by one of these persons), but also from other greater dangers and I refer particularly to typhoid fever. Already this year we have had over 800 cases. Children of school age are particularly affected, providing nearly 50% of the cases, and it is possible that the incidence of this disease among this group may be linked with the illegal hawkers who frequent school premises during the lunch hour breaks.

Mr. Wilfred WONG referred to public health in multi-storeyed buildings. I would whole-heartedly endorse any solution which will permit the occupants to enjoy the amenities of their own homes. Unfortunately in these large blocks there are far too many persons heedless of their neighbours' comfort and the practice of indiscriminate throwing down of rubbish and the erection of illegal shades is all too frequent. This makes the work of health inspectors and cleansing staff far greater than it should be. If every person would remember to put refuse in a dustbin or in a street container provided for the purpose, the need for employing an ever-increasing cleansing staff would be reduced and this would also greatly assist this Council's efforts to make Hong Kong cleaner and healthier.

Several Members mentioned the subject of medical services and, although this subject is outside the Council's activities, I would like to speak about this for a few moments in general terms: first, it must be realized that, with limited resources, unlimited public medical care for all is an unattainable ideal, since this would make such demands on manpower and facilities, and be so costly, that it would be impracticable long before perfection could be achieved. Therefore, a balance between demands and needs must be struck, and since public medical services are, in proportion to the demand for them, a relatively limited commodity, it is necessary to use them judiciously.

Naturally, the aim is to create and maintain medical services of high quality and to see to their constant improvement in all possible ways.

At present, the public facilities and personnel available for medical services are inundated by the pressure of people and an increasingly onerous burden is being shouldered under the most trying conditions. I must say that sometimes there is a failure to appreciate the vast volume of unobtrusive work that is being done in this unceasing battle, in which the many victories have little news value but the occasional defeats attract undue limelight.

Turning now to specific points raised in Members' speeches I am reliably informed by officials of the Chinese Medical Association that the insurance scheme for family medical care mentioned by Mr. BERNACCHI never even reached a Government file in which it could be lost, (Laughter) as no correspondence with any department of Government on the subject ever took place.

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