1968 — Page 243

Page 243 of 243

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Secretariat has the power to dictate to this Council what our policy on hawkers should be, but I think it has the duty rather than the power to suggest outlines of policies which would be acceptable to other depart- ments with which this Council has to deal.

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I would like to say that I am grateful to you for having given me the opportunity of drawing out Mr. BERNACCHI in extenso. I have established the point I wanted to make that any hawker policy that this Council might frame, if it were at variance with the guide lines of the Colonial Secretariat, would not be acceptable to the Government as has been the case in the experience of another Appointed Member.

CHAIRMAN: --I would like to draw this discussion to a conclusion. It has drifted very far from the original question.

MR. HU:-Yes, but Mr. Chairman, it has not been done by me. (Laughter). Mr. Chairman, I have a very pertinent question to ask you if you will allow me. I quite agree with Mr. FORSGATE's thinking. I think we should not put the cart before the horse, we should put the horse before the cart. I know your difficulties on staff in the Licensing Section. Could internal arrangements be made, for example, asking the Colonial Secretariat for staff for a very short time for temporary Then we could get the information as soon as possible and before the so-called detailed recommendations are either approved or dis- approved?

use.

CHAIRMAN:-Mr. Hu, as I said already, until at least the general lines of policy are decided, I do not think we are going to get very far in our request for additional staff. In fact, the sorting out and collating of information that we already have, or that we can collect, is unlikely to make any difference or any great difference to the general lines of the policy.

MR. HU:-But Mr. Chairman, I said, internal measures-a request to the Colonial Secretariat for staff as soon as possible for temporary use before the definite policy has been decided.

CHAIRMAN:-Unlikely to be acceptable, Mr. Hu. We have made the request and everything is being delayed until the Council makes up its mind about the general lines of policy.

MR. BERNACCHI:-Is it in fact true that the policy of this Council, or the implementation of policy of this Council, is dependent upon the ground staff provided by your Department, Sir, and the Police and Medical Departments?

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CHAIRMAN:-I am not sure what you mean by the Medical Depart- ment, Mr. BERNACCHI, but generally speaking, unless we have the staff to carry out the policy, we will not be able to go very far.

MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, excuse me, I do not agree with the statement you have just made that "until the Council has made up its mind on hawker policy". It has been established that, in certain matters the Council has already made up its mind, but the Council's mind being at variance with the Government guide lines, the matter has been sent back.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, is not the suggestion made by Mr. FORSGATE and Mr. Hu within the framework of the general revision of policy that is now taking place, and can the suggestion made by them be referred to the Policy Select Committee?

CHAIRMAN: ---Certainly, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN.

(7) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-

When was the present Aberdeen Market built? Is there any plan to rebuild this market in order to cope with the development of the Aberdeen area? If the answer is in the affirmative, then when will such plan be carried out?

MR. R. H. LOBO, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-

The existing market was built in 1912.

It is proposed, as part of the programme for the reconstruction of old markets, to rebuild the Aberdeen Market and an item is already in Category C of the Public Works Programme.

The preliminary planning of the project is almost completed and it may be possible to apply for its upgrading to Category B within the next six to eight months. Un- fortunately, I am not able, at this moment, to give a precise date for the rebuilding plan of this market. However, with the recent increased emphasis on the construction of new markets and the rebuilding of old ones, I am hopeful that Aberdeen will be provided with the modern marketing facilities which it needs, within the next three to five years.

MR. HU:--Mr. Chairman, I thank the Chairman of the Markets Select Committee for his efforts to try to up-grade the Aberdeen market from Category 'C' to Category 'B', but I would ask him if the Aberdeen market programme is still in Category 'C' and if it is promoted to Category 'B', how long shall we wait?