1965 — Page 122

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

(10) MRS. ELLEN LI SHU-PUI asked the following question:

May I ask the Commissioner for Resettlement:

(a) Whether he is aware of the danger to the public, including residents, particularly to the children attending kindergartens and nurseries on the ground floor, of the possibility of the bamboo poles used for the drying of laundry falling off from the upper floors?

(b) Does he know whether any consideration has ever been given to the practicability of this method of drying when planning for such facility to be provided in Resettlement Estates, taking into consideration the human frailties in trying to hold a bamboo pole full of wet clothing and leaning over a 3-foot high balcony in order to fit it into the iron pipe?

(c) Has any consideration been given to the provision of any precautionary device in order to eliminate the danger of accidents caused by falling poles from a great height, especially above the playgrounds of kindergartens and nurseries?

(d) What kind of drying facilities are being provided in the new Mark IV and V estates?

THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:

In Mark I and II blocks, three rows of wires fixed to metal brackets on the outside of the common balcony to each floor are provided for tenants to hang out washing to dry, and no bamboo poles are required. When Mark III blocks were designed, this method of drying laundry was deliberately changed because it was found that wet clothing continually brushing against the colour finish on the outside of balconies quickly wore away the finish and added to the problems of maintenance, and, from the tenants' point of view, their laundry was continually being soiled by the loosened colour-wash. This process was aggravated where wet clothes carried any residue of detergent used for washing.

For laundry-drying in Mark III blocks, the method successfully practised in Housing Authority and other Low-cost Housing Estates was adopted; that is to say, metal pipes were let into the outsides of the individual balconies of each room. Tenants were expected to provide their own bamboo poles for slipping into the metal sockets and to hang their laundry out to dry on the bamboo poles which protruded out at right angles to the balcony. The same system has been provided for Mark IV blocks and it is intended to repeat it for Mark V blocks.

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I acknowledge that there is a possibility that a tenant may accidentally drop a bamboo pole and that it may cause injury to someone below. But, as far as I know, there is no record of any accident either in a resettlement or a Housing Authority estate. The use of bamboo poles for drying laundry out of windows and over balconies is, of course, common practice elsewhere in Hong Kong and I am not aware that it has given rise to any serious danger or that there is any marked record of accidents. I am not saying that accidents of this nature do not happen—in fact, I have heard of near misses, as it were—but I do not feel that this method of laundry drying is so dangerous a practice that it should no longer be allowed in resettlement estates or elsewhere in the Colony. Indeed, insofar as resettlement estates are concerned, there is a far greater risk of injury from solid objects such as bottles and tin cans thrown carelessly from upper storey rooms.

I have given thought to alternative methods of drying laundry and to the provision of some sort of precautionary device when poles are used, but no solution is apparent other than that a limit could be placed on the length of pole used for drying clothes. There would be considerably less danger from a 6 or 8 feet long pole than from the usual 12 feet pole, but it may not be feasible in practice to insist on this. I would, however, be willing to try this solution out in one estate to start with.

As far as the danger to children in nursery and kindergarten playgrounds is concerned, I would be very willing to consider individual applications by the sponsors for the erection of awnings or wire netting over the vulnerable parts of their playgrounds. But this arrangement may be costly and would no doubt call for daily removal of accumulated refuse which upper storey tenants are wont to throw over their balconies.

DR. LEE:- Far more dangerous, Mr. Chairman, is the question of tenants themselves falling from the block. (Laughter) I can recall one instance when I was a member of the Management Select Committee at Lei Cheng Uk Estate.

MR. LI: Mr. Chairman, with due respect to Mrs. Li is this question completely in order? I refer to Standing Order 8(1). (Laughter) My impression is that the question must be put to you, Sir, the Chairman, or the Chairman of a Committee, not to other members.

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