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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

VICE-CHAIRMAN:-Thank you Dr. BELL. Yes, I will investigate the possibility of this being put on a better basis by reporting back to Headquarters staff in the first instance.

MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary question? You said in your answer here that cases are not normally reported to the police except when occupied by street sleepers. Does the staff of the Urban Services Department report to the police in cases of hoard- ings occupied by hawkers, such as barber shops etc.? These hawkers are causing very serious interference to the cleansing of the streets. Whose responsibility is it to have them removed?

VICE-CHAIRMAN:-I am afraid I cannot answer that straight off Mr. NG I presume it would be a matter mainly for the police.

MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, I would just like to clarify why I asked this. Immediately hoardings are erected they were being occupied by hawkers, barber shops and so forth, and when I told the foreman of one of my sites to chase them off he said he wouldn't dare. When I asked him if he would report the matter to the Urban Services Depart- ment he said they would take no notice.

VICE-CHAIRMAN:-Sounds like a matter for the Hawkers Select Committee. (Laughter).

(13) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:

I have been advised by residents in the Shau Kei Wan area that since the Shau Kei Wan Public Dispensary three-storied building was closed about a year or more ago, it has not been regularly inspected by Urban Services Department personnel:

(a) Can the Chairman take steps to have this build- ing inspected from time to time to see whether it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes? (b) Can the Chairman also inquire whether Govern- ment has any intention of permitting this build- ing to be used for recreation, amenity or youth welfare purposes

in the immediate future,

bearing in mind the grave shortage of public amenities in the Shau Kei Wan area?

THE SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS replied as follows:---

In answer to the first part of the question I have been authorized by you, Mr. Chairman, to say that this build- ing is included in the house to house surveys which are

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made at intervals by Anti-mosquito Gangs. The last two surveys were made on 19th August, 1965 and 7th July, 1966. On neither occasion were mosquito or fly breed- ing places found. I understand that the building will normally continue to be inspected every six months.

The short answer to the second part of the question is that Government does not own the building, which is trust property, although Government occupied it from the end of August 1945 to the 14th August, 1964. But members are entitled to more explanation than that, particularly in view of the admitted lack of amenities in Shau Kei Wan.

In 1912 the people of Shau Kei Wan, having no public dispen- sary of any sort for the poor, raised the necessary funds and built one. Some years later, at their request and at the request of the representatives of other districts' kai- fong, this and similar privately built dispensaries elsewhere were vested in the Secretary for Chinese Affairs Incor- porated in trust, and their administration taken over and financed by a Chinese Dispensaries Committee. The war came, and the Committee was dispersed. Immediately after the war Government stepped in and re-opened the Shau Kei Wan building as a government public dispensary, with the tacit consent of all concerned, until the new Hong Kong Jockey Club clinic was opened in July 1964.

The Shau Kei Wan Kaifong Association has since then shown an active interest in this building being put to use again in the interests of the local public. Unfortunately, as trustee in my capacity as Secretary for Chinese Affairs Incorporated, I have been faced with a complicated set of legal and other problems involving this particular building with others of a like kind elsewhere, and with certain funds connected with their former use. Legisla- tion may be necessary to cut the Gordian knot. I can only assure members that the grass is not being allowed to grow under our feet, and that the sooner the Shau Kei Wan building or the site on which it stands can be put to good use in the public interest the more I shall be pleased, the more the Shau Kei Wan Kaifong will be pleased and, I am sure, the more the members of this Council will also be pleased.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, in paragraph 2 it was stated that "the last two surveys were made on 19th August, 1965 and 7th July, 1966.” In carrying out these surveys, were the buildings opened and inspections carried out inside the building as well?