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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

DR. BELL: -Mr. Chairman, I was a member of the Select Committee when this was discussed. In fact there is an inadequate chimney there, to answer my own question, that is the reason why there is a nuisance and I would be grateful if the Select Committee could devote its attention to this aspect of it when it reconsiders it as it ought to have done in February.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, in clarification may I just mention that although the question mentions smoke it doesn't say heat, but heat is involved.

CHAIRMAN: -It is accepted, Mrs. ELLIOTT.

MR. Lo:-I think there is some mention of transfer of heat to the first floor premises.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-I just thought that had some bearing on what Dr. BELL said.

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

(a) What action was taken to clear the door of a hawker obstruction at Block 26, Nos. 9 and 10, Tsz Wan Shan Resettlement Estate, on 23rd March, 1968?

(b) Is it correct that the stall in question has been increased

since that date to make an even bigger obstruction? (c) What planned action to accommodate the many hawkers now operating ad lib in that estate is likely to be taken in future?

MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKERS SELECT Com- MITTEE, replied as follows:-

This question concerns both a particular hawker in the Tsz Wan Shan Resettlement Estate, and the general hawker situation there.

The first part of the question concerns a hawker in front of shop 26/9+10 whose stall as extended by movable boxes measures about 5 ft. by 6 ft. Since there are other stalls in the area over the regulation size of 3 ft. by 4 ft., action would not normally be taken against this particular stall except as part of a general clearing up. However, this stall was within 6′′ of the drainage channel at the edge of the block, and was seriously obstructing access to the shop behind. Following complaints, action was taken by

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Resettlement Department staff to remove the boxes and so reduce the total area used by the hawker to about 4' - 6′′ wide by 3' deep. This left a 4′ gap between the stall and the drainage channel.

In reply to the second part of your question, it is true that the hawker has now replaced the boxes and the obstruction is as large as ever. It has, in fact, become clear that such intermittent action as the staff of the Resettlement Depart- ment has been able to take with the assistance of the Police has been largely ineffective and that a final solution in this and countless other similar cases depends on the provision of adequate Hawker Control Force personnel who can exercise continuous control. Without this, it seems inevitable that the rights of residents in the Estate will continue to suffer.

In reply to the last part of your question, space for hawker bazaars has been provided in the Estate but it would serve no useful purpose to allocate sites in them until staff are available to ensure that hawkers trade only in the bazaars and that other hawkers cannot compete with them by trading elsewhere in the Estate which again stresses the need for a large expansion in the Hawker Control Force. MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, as we do not have the Hawker Control Force that Mr. BERNACCHI keeps emphasizing we should have, can anything be done at all about it?

CHAIRMAN: ----With the present staff I don't think so Mrs. ELLIOTT. MRS. ELLIOTT:-In that case, Mr. Chairman, as this is our estate and these are our tenants, would the Commissioner for Resettlement cancel the rent of this shop until such time as the lady is able to open it?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-If the tenant of the shop is prepared to give the shop up naturally the rent would be no longer chargeable.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, this is not a question but maybe I could make it a question, does the Commissioner consider it reason- able to ask the tenant to give up a shop just because our estate staff, the Police and the Hawker Control Force and the rest of us cannot control the hawkers from stopping the shop from operating?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Perhaps Mrs. ELLIOTT we could consider this as one of those questions of unfavourable shop sites and if it's considered to be such because of the presence of this hawker then we can take action in accordance with the usual procedure.