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has just been approved by the Governor in Council and which is awaiting publication. I am unable to say when the site will be allocated to this Council, but the residents of North Point may rest assured that the Urban Amenities Select Committee will press for this to be done at the earliest possible date.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, would the ward representative for North Point be gracious enough to give his views verbally to the constituents in his ward?
MR. BERNACCHI:- I will ask my nominated colleague to answer that question.
MR. LO:- Mr. Chairman, I would be very glad to do so.
(4) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
Complaints have been made to me that some theatres turn off the air-conditioning system during evening performances, thus reducing the circulation of air, much to the discomfort of theatre patrons. As a large number of Hong Kong residents go to the movies in the evening, and as this is a matter which has to do with public health, will the Urban Services Department take steps to have all theatres in Hong Kong and Kowloon inspected periodically during evening performances, if this is not yet being done, in order to ensure that Urban Council regulations are implemented for the public good?
MR. WILFRED S. B. WONG, CHAIRMAN OF THE AIR CONDITIONING SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
Day and night surprise visits to theatres and cinemas have been made periodically by the health staff during the past three years. In 1965, 1,350 such surprise inspections were carried out, of which about one-third took place in the evenings. Only one complaint concerning a cinema was recorded by the department in that year.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Could I ask Mr. WONG, through you, at what time in the evenings did most of the evening surprise visits take place. Was it after the matinee performance or the late night performance?
MR. WILFRED WONG:- The evening surprise visits took place between half past nine and ten.
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MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- And are these surprise inspections spread as widely as possible over all cinemas in the Colony, Mr. Chairman?
MR. WILFRED WONG:- Surprise visits cover all the theatres in this Colony.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- In the Colony Sir?
DR. BELL:- Mr. Chairman, when these surprise visits are made, do the surprise visitors stay throughout the performance, or do I understand they only stay from 9.30 to ten?
MR. WILFRED WONG:- Mr. Chairman, to the best of my information, our surprise visits were timed between 9.30 and ten. As the committee is more concerned about policy than exactly how long the inspectors stayed, I would require notice of this question to give the exact time.
DR. BELL:- Mr. Chairman, a further supplementary in connexion with this. Are air-conditioning tests taken at all in the cinemas?
MR. WILFRED WONG:- May I answer that, Mr. Chairman? I think the main purpose of our ordinary inspections is to ensure that a sufficient amount of fresh air is delivered into the theatre at a rate of at least ten cubic feet of fresh air per person per minute. By that we can check the quantity of air, the speed of air and the square feet of the fan inlet. We do not go into air-conditioning itself. We make sure that the blower in the system does deliver that volume of fresh air into the main building each minute, that is a thousand-person theatre would have at least 10,000 cubic feet of fresh air pumped into the theatre.
DR. BELL:- Mr. Chairman, does the Medical and Health Department interest itself in any way on the question of bacterial count in a cinema?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:- It does not interest itself as a routine. It would be done by the Industrial Health Section of the Labour Department, and I think they only do pollution tests if there is any particular reason to suppose that they need doing. They do not do routine tests on pollution in cinemas.
MR. SALES:- Mr. Chairman, are you able to tell us whether such surprise visits are paid to the City Hall cinema and Concert Hall as well? (Laughter).
MR. CHAIRMAN:- Sir, I would like to ask the Chairman of the Air-Conditioning Select Committee to answer that one. (Laughter).
MR. SALES:- The Chairman of the City Hall Select Committee has in the past urged earnestly upon your department the need to exercise
Page 291 of 382
Page 291 of 382
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has just been approved by the Governor in Council and which is awaiting publication. I am unable to say when the site will be allocated to this Council, but the residents of North Point may rest assured that the Urban Amenities Select Committee will press for this to be done at the earliest possible date.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, would the ward representative for North Point be gracious enough to give his views verbally to the constituents in his ward?
MR. BERNACCHI:-I will ask my nominated colleague to answer that question.
MR. Lo: Mr. Chairman, I would be very glad to do so.
(4) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
Complaints have been made to me that some theatres turn off the air-conditioning system during evening performances, thus reducing the circulation of air, much to the discomfort of theatre patrons. As a large number of Hong Kong residents go to the movies in the evening, and as this is a matter which has to do with public health, will the Urban Services Department take steps to have all theatres in Hong Kong and Kowloon inspected periodically during evening performances, if this is not yet being done, in order to ensure that Urban Council regulations are implemented for the public good?
MR. WILFRED S. B. WONG, CHAIRMAN OF THE AIR CONDITIONING SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
Day and night surprise visits to theatres and cinemas have been made periodically by the health staff during the past three years. In 1965, 1,350 such surprise inspections were carried out, of which about one-third took place in the evenings. Only one complaint concerning a cinema was recorded by the department in that year.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Could I ask Mr. WONG, through you, at what time in the evenings did most of the evening surprise visits take place. Was it after the matinee performance or the late night performance?
MR. WILFRED WONG:-The evening surprise visits took place between half past nine and ten.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
561
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-And are these surprise inspections spread as widely as possible over all cinemas in the Colony, Mr. Chairman?
MR. WILFRED WONG:-Surprise visits cover all the theatres in this Colony.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:--In the Colony Sir?
DR. BELL:-Mr. Chairman, when these surprise visits are made, do the surprise visitors stay throughout the performance, or do I understand they only stay from 9.30. to ten?
MR. WILFRED WONG:-Mr. Chairman, to the best of my information, our surprise visits were timed between 9.30 and ten. As the committee is more concerned about policy than exactly how long the inspectors stayed, I would require notice of this question to give the exact time.
DR. BELL:-Mr. Chairman, a further supplementary in connexion with this. Are air-conditioning tests taken at all in the cinemas?
MR. WILFRED WONG:-May I answer that, Mr. Chairman? I think the main purpose of our ordinary inspections is to ensure that a sufficient amount of fresh air is delivered into the theatre at a rate of at least ten cubic feet of fresh air per person per minute. By that we can check the quantity We of air, the speed of air and the square feet of the fan inlet. do not go into air-conditioning itself. We make sure that the blower in the system does deliver that volume of fresh air into the main building each minute, that is a thousand-person theatre would have at least 10,000 cubic feet of fresh air pump into the theatre.
DR. BELL:—Mr. Chairman, does the Medical and Health Department interest itself in any way on the question of bacterial count in a cinema?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:-It does not interest itself as a routine. It would be done by the Industrial Health Section of the Labour Department, and I think they only do pollution tests if there is any particular reason to suppose that they need doing. They do not do routine tests on pollution in cinemas.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, are you able to tell us whether such surprise visits are paid to the City Hall cinema and Concert Hall as well? (Laughter).
MR. CHAIRMAN:-Sir, I would like to ask the Chairman of the Air- Conditioning Select Committee to answer that one. (Laughter).
MR. SALES: The Chairman of the City Hall Select Committee has in the past urged earnestly upon your department the need to exercise
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