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offering dispossessed tenants accommodation in Government Low Cost Housing Estates in or near the central areas. I am hopeful that when a decision is taken it will be so timed that any major clearance can be phased in with the development of a Low Cost Housing Estate in one or more of these areas.

MR. BERNACCHI:- Mr. Chairman, I thank the Director of Public Works for his full reply. I have one supplementary, and that concerns the last bit of the answer. When will a Low Cost Housing Estate be established in or near to the central area?

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:- In the report, Mr. Chairman, the Working Party listed three possible sites: Ho Man Tin, the Hung Hom reclamation and the Wan Chai reclamation. We expect to go out for tender for a Low Cost Housing Estate at Ho Man Tin within the next few weeks and some of the blocks should be completed in 1970.

MR. BERNACCHI:- Thank you.

(3) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question:-

Can the suggestion made by a speaker at the Annual Debate that a stall selling soft drinks for children in the City Hall be referred to the City Hall Select Committee, with a suggestion, on my part, that a space be found on the ground floor of the High Block for the sale of soft drinks and ice cream at cheap prices?

MR. A. de O. SALES, CHAIRMAN OF THE CITY HALL SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-

This question concerns the possibility of setting up a stall selling cheap refreshments for children in the High Block of the City Hall.

I will refer Mr. BERNACCHI's question, and the suggestion which he makes, to the City Hall Select Committee.

MR. BERNACCHI:- Thank you.

(4) DR. A. M. S. BELL asked the following question:

Are copies of the speeches made by Unofficial Urban Councillors at the Annual Conventional Debate of the Council sent direct to the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Financial Secretary and Heads of all Government Departments?

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THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-

This question concerns the action taken on speeches made by Unofficial Members of the Urban Council at the Council's Annual Conventional Debate.

Copies of the speeches are not sent direct to the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Financial Secretary, or heads of Government Departments. Immediate action taken on speeches is to break them down into subject matters, and to send relevant extracts to the appropriate head of department. This includes the Colonial Secretary on general policy matters, the Financial Secretary in respect of financial and economic matters and heads of departments on matters concerning them. In addition, a full set of the speeches is sent to the Colonial Secretariat for record purposes.

DR. BELL:- Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary question please? In view of the fact that this is the only Council on which Elected Members sit, and in view of the fact that the Press seem to ask some of those persons named in my original question to comment on what Councillors have said in the Annual Debate as early as the day following the debate, would you consider in future sending copies of Councillors' speeches to those people on the same day as the speeches are made in the hope that they will read them and in consequence be able to comment more accurately?

CHAIRMAN: —I will consider this, Dr. BELL.

(5) DR. M. H. HUANG asked the following question:-

Could the Chairman of the Resettlement Management Select Committee say if residents in resettlement estates are prohibited from keeping dogs and cats. If so, is he satisfied that this rule is obeyed by residents.

MR. LI YIU-BOR, CHAIRMAN OF THE RESETTLEMENT MANAGEMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-

The terms of the Tenancy Conditions prohibit the keeping of any animal except a cat in an estate room. However, there are a number of tenants who do persist in keeping dogs contrary to the terms of their Tenancies, and the staff warn these tenants as occasion arises of their liability to eviction for breach of Tenancy Conditions. It is however by persuasion rather than eviction that the problem is kept within reasonable limits.

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