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DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: It is in fact a code of practice, but the book is out of print at the moment (Laughter) because very large numbers have been distributed.
MR. FUNG: Could this question then be referred to the Food and Food Premises Select Committee?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: Certainly.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, when was the last printing?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: I'm not able to say, Mr. Chairman, but this was originated three or four years ago and we have only just run out of them.
CHAIRMAN: Council will recess for fifteen minutes.
MOTIONS.
(1) DR. R. H. S. LEE, Chairman of the Library Select Committee, moved the following motion:
That the Library By-laws 1966 be made under section 4 of the Library Ordinance 1965.
He said: Mr. Chairman, I rise to move the motion standing in my name, namely that the Library By-laws 1966 be made under section 4 of the Library Ordinance 1965.
These By-laws have been carefully scrutinized by the Library Select Committee, and paragraph 40 was referred to the Legal Department for inclusion to allow any aggrieved person to appeal to the Urban Council.
This is an important point of principle because the public, if wronged, can always depend on the Urban Council for a fair hearing.
Sir, with these words I have much pleasure in moving the motion now before Council.
MR. LI: I beg to second the motion.
CHAIRMAN: The motion before Council is that the Library By-laws 1966 be made under section 4 of the Library Ordinance 1965.
The question was put.
The motion was carried.
(2) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI moved the following motion:
That for the better discharge of this Council's statutory duty, this Council recommends to the Government that legislation be enacted providing for the right of the Urban Services Department staff (acting under the direction of this Council) to go into and clean the communal parts of multi-storeyed buildings, in all cases where there is no effective scheme for voluntary management, and recover the costs of cleansing from the legal owners or occupiers and that the draft of the proposed Bill be circulated to members of this Council for comment and advice before it is laid before the members of the Legislative Council.
He said: Mr. Chairman, this Motion is similar to, but not the same as, the motion I moved about a year ago and since then the condition of communal parts of multi-storeyed buildings, as I have foretold, have gone from bad to worse.
I quite appreciate that there are other proposals in the air, such as legislation regarding voluntary management, but this will only benefit the occupiers who can get sufficiently together to enable them to partake in the scheme.
I have no intention of interfering with this voluntary management scheme, and my motion specifically excepts it, but, surely in a city such as ours that is going upwards even more than it is going outwards, the duties of this Council as regards sanitation in urban areas do not stop at the front entrance of multi-storeyed buildings.
It would, I submit, be a simple thing for employees of the Urban Services Department to enter the communal parts of the buildings and keep them clean. The eventual charge to the legal owners or occupiers would not be very much.
I have heard reports of multi-storeyed buildings where the communal passage-ways are, in fact, completely blocked by filth and rubbish, including packing cases, and even in some cases this applies to shopping arcades, or at least arcades originally designed for shoppers.
This Council should in all cases keep abreast of the times and it is not keeping abreast of the times for us to be an ostrich poking our head in the sand and ignoring the dreadful state of communal parts of many of the multi-storeyed buildings, or even just encouraging the voluntary management schemes.
As regards the last part of the Motion, I take the view very strongly that in legislation enacted for us to carry out, we should be consulted on the final draft of the proposed Bill, and indeed later on, on any proposed amendments.
We are, I hope, reasonable citizens and it is only right for Government to lay before, at least, the relevant Select Committee draft legislation before it is presented to members of the Legislative Council.
I am not in any way by saying so delegating from the duties or rights of members of the Legislative Council, it is for them to stamp the Bill with a mark of final approval or rejection, but I do say that there have been cases in recent months where legislation relating to duties which the Urban Council is supposed to carry out have been passed without first referring that legislation to members of this Council.
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DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: It is in fact a code of practice, but the book is out of print at the moment (Laughter) because very large numbers have been distributed.
MR. FUNG:--Could this question then be referred to the Food and Food Premises Select Committee?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:-Certainly. MR. CHEONG-LEEN : Mr. Chairman, when was the last printing? DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:-I'm not able to say, Mr. Chairman, but this was originated three or four years ago and we have only just run out of them.
CHAIRMAN:--Council will recess for fifteen minutes.
MOTIONS.
(1) DR. R. H. S. LEE, Chairman of the Library Select Committee, moved the following motion:—
That the Library By-laws 1966 be made under section 4 of the
Library Ordinance 1965.
He said Mr. Chairman, I rise to move the motion standing in my name, namely that the Library By-laws 1966 be made under section 4 of the Library Ordinance 1965.
These By-laws have been carefully scrutinized by the Library Select Committee, and paragraph 40 was referred to the Legal Department for inclusion to allow any aggrieved person to appeal to the Urban Council.
This is an important point of principle because the public if wronged, can always depend on the Urban Council for a fair hearing.
Sir, with these words I have much pleasure in moving the motion now before Council.
MR. LI-I beg to second the motion.
CHAIRMAN:-The motion before Council is that the Library By-laws 1966 be made under section 4 of the Library Ordinance 1965.
The question was put.
The motion was carried.
(2) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI moved the following motion:-
That for the better discharge of this Council's statutory duty, this Council recommends to the Government that legisla-
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tion be enacted providing for the right of the Urban Serv- ices Department staff (acting under the direction of this Council) to go into and clean the communal parts of multi- storeyed buildings, in all cases where there is no effective scheme for voluntary management, and recover the costs of cleansing from the legal owners or occupiers and that the draft of the proposed Bill be circulated to members of this Council for comment and advice before it is laid before the members of the Legislative Council.
He said: Mr. Chairman, this Motion is similar to, but not the same as, the motion I moved about a year ago and since then the con- dition of communal parts of multi-storeyed buildings, as I have foretold, have gone from bad to worse. I quite appreciate that there are other proposals in the air, such as legislation regarding voluntary management, but this will only benefit the occupiers who can get sufficiently together to enable them to partake in the scheme. I have no intention of inter- fering with this voluntary management scheme, and my motion spec- ifically excepts it, but, surely in a city such as ours that is going upwards even more than it is going outwards, the duties of this Council as regards santiation in urban areas do not stop at the front entrance of multi- storeyed buildings. It would, I submit, be a simple thing for employees of the Urban Services Department to enter the communal parts of the buildings and keep them clean. The eventual charge to the legal owners or occupiers would not be very much.
I have heard reports of multi-storeyed buildings where the communal passage-ways are, in fact, completely blocked by filth and rubbish, including packing cases, and even in some cases this applies to shopping arcades, or at least arcades originally designed for shoppers. This Council should in all cases keep abreast of the times and it is not keeping abreast of the times for us to be an ostrich poking our head in the sand and ignoring the dreadful state of communal parts of many of the multi-storeyed buildings, or even just encouraging the voluntary management schemes.
As regards the last part of the Motion, I take the view very strongly that in legislation enacted for us to carry out, we should be consulted on the final draft of the proposed Bill, and indeed later on, on any proposed amendments. We are, I hope, reasonable citizens and it is only right for Government to lay before, at least, the relevant Select Committee draft legislation before it is presented to members of the Legislative Council. I am not in any way by saying so delegating from the duties or rights of members of the Legislative Council, it is for them to stamp the Bill with a mark of final approval or rejection, but I do say that there have cases in recent months where legislation relating to duties which the Urban Council is supposed to carry out have been passed without first referring that legislation to members of this Council
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