1966 — Page 249

of 279

Page 249 of 279

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

CHAIRMAN:-On a point of clarification, the incinerator is operated by the Public Works Department. The Urban Services Department is only responsible for delivering refuse to the incinerator.

MR. SALES: Granted, Sir. Will you please clarify the position of the Commissioner of Police?

MR. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, I notice that the number of Interpreter/Translator and Shorthand/Audio-typist posts are one and two respectively, both supported by the Establishment Branch.

I pre- sume that the Estimates Select Committee, in requesting these posts, did not have in mind the translation, either simultaneous or otherwise, of our proceedings in Council, and that if some form of translation, I repeat simultaneous or otherwise, is resorted to it would be a matter for a supplementary grant?

CHAIRMAN:-Sir, that is quite correct.

of present activities.

This staff is for expansion

DR. BELL:-Mr. Chairman, may I thank you, through Mr. SALES' echo, for your words of welcome, and apologize for being late.

CHAIRMAN: --Thank you, Dr. BELL. I have explained the reason for your temporary absence.

QUESTIONS.

(1) MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:-

In an official letter dated 26th October, 1966, it was stated that there is reason to believe that there is some corruption among the constables and the N.C.O.S of the Hawker Con- trol Force. May I ask:

(a) What were the reasons that led to this conclusion? (b) What action has been taken against offenders?

(c) How is it proposed to carry out any new plans and regulations for hawkers if they can all be sidestepped in this way?

THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:

The answer to the first part of this question is that a full enquiry was conducted by the Police into certain allega- tions of corruption in the Hawker Control Force and de- tailed reports of this enquiry were passed to the Advisory Committee on Corruption. In some cases enquiries sug- gested that money was being paid by hawkers, usually unlicensed food-for-man hawkers, to collectors but the

2.

3.

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

hawkers denied that the payments were corrupt.

471

Similarly,

in some cases collectors admitted receiving money but denied that they were collecting it for the Hawker Control Force and claimed that they did not pass money on to members of it. In no case were the statements of the persons concerned sufficient to justify court action or a disciplinary enquiry into the conduct of any particular member of the Force but, taken together, they create the impression that some corruption may exist. This is what was meant by the phrase "there is reason to believe that there is some corruption among the Constables and the N.C.O.s in the Hawker Control Force."

The answer to the second part of the question has already been supplied in paragraph 1, namely, that it is not possible to obtain sufficient evidence to justify court action or a disciplinary enquiry in any particular case.

The third part of the question suggests that corruption in the Hawker Control Force is so prevalent that the Force cannot be relied on to carry out the Council's policy. The investigations made by the Police have not provided any evidence which would support such a view, and I think it is clear from the large number of cases in which action is being taken each month to enforce the by-laws that the Hawker Control Force is doing its best bearing in mind its limited resources. May I say finally that un- licensed hawkers selling restricted foods have an obvious motive for wishing to discredit the Hawker Control Force.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-Is it not correct that unlicensed food-for-man hawkers do not come under the Hawker Control Force, but under the police?

CHAIRMAN:-No, Mrs. ELLIOTT; it depends upon which part of the urban area we are talking about. The Hawker Control Force, because of its limited strength, is deployed in something like 30 areas where hawkers have concentrated in the past to form de facto open-air markets, and that is as much as the Hawker Control Force can do at the moment. On the fringes of these areas and even in these areas there may well be unlicensed food-for-man hawkers. They may also exist in those parts of the urban area where only the police can take care of them.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, in those areas controlled by the Hawker Control Force, do the Hawker Control Force actually arrest unlicensed hawkers?