HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
all concerned are put to tackling it immediately, so that the problem can at least be contained in the first instance. It is regrettable that individual cases were reasons for postponements and delays in certain operations in the past. I trust this will no longer be so and your Department will not be interrupted through such cases. We must move ahead if we wish to succeed and success here cannot be won through popularity contests.
The Marble Road Hawker Operation and the completion of the Tin Chiu Street Hawker Bazaar to accommodate the decanted hawkers and more recently the Chun Yeung Street operation which took place only two days ago were solid examples of how the hawker problem could be effectively, fairly and firmly dealt with. The efforts put into the building of the Tin Chiu Street Bazaar were particularly heartening because it was an admirable example of whole-hearted co-operation between the Government and the people on the one hand and between the hawkers and the kaifong on the other. It is unfortunately not easy in the densely populated areas to find suitable sites or adequate space to accommodate all the hawkers, but I would like to make an earnest plea that your Department, Mr. Chairman, should draw the attention of Government to the very pressing need in these areas so that the highest possible priority could be accorded to the allocation of land for use as hawker bazaars. Without this, there is a very severe limitation as to what can be done to implement basic and permanent improvements. I should like to stress again that what matters most is effective action on the ground. This is an important and difficult job, and we need a first-class Hawker Control Force to do it.
I regret to point out, however, that the conditions of employment and benefits compared with other disciplined services are really very inferior indeed. We have some good, dedicated men but not all have maintained their high morale and efficiency because of the insurmountable difficulties, resulting in these men looking for other employment more often than not with Government, for a better deal. I would therefore very earnestly request you, Sir, to make representations to Government to ensure that better conditions of employment and more attractive benefits can be given to the H.C.F. to attract better quality men.
Speaking of benefits, I find it very difficult to accept that one of the solutions to our welfare problem is the issuance of fixed-pitch hawker licences on compassionate grounds. What we need is a better public assistance programme. Perhaps we should consider the possibilities of Government sponsoring farming in Lantau, Lamma and our other islands for those who have been cultivators, duck or pig breeders all their lives, and are unaccustomed to other ways of making a living.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
A glance at the list showing nearly 630 pig breeders, heads of families, and persons who have been allocated resettlement shops and nearly 100 in another list still awaiting their shops, will no doubt indicate to some extent the large number of people in this category who could be given proper encouragement and facilities to continue with their trade. Compensation and resettlement shops as alternatives are not the answers to these people's problems.
We must not delay any further in our programme to give the physically-handicapped proper training and, not less important, to place them in industry and commercial establishments where they are suited. The public must be made conscious that just because a person is physically-handicapped, it does not mean that he is incapable of earning an honest living and of becoming a useful citizen. One may ask what is the Social Welfare Department doing to find jobs for over 14,000 registered disabled persons?
Likewise, census shows that in the near future, the number of aged people will increase considerably because of the composition of our current population. What is being done to meet this problem? Are we anticipating that the aged will remain at home and be looked after by their families in over-crowded conditions, even though we are aware that circumstances are changing and because of this there is a clear indication that family ties are growing weaker and a new pattern of family life and habits of the community emerging.
Recently, much has been done for youths by way of recreation and entertainment, but have we got any programme to improve the quality and to broaden the outlook of the new generation? Can we not create some scheme to sponsor these young people for trips overseas whereby they can learn through exchange of views and observations, and return after a summer's course with new ideas to generate these for our benefit?
Another observation I would like to make concerns Resettlement. While efforts are being made in the field of decantation and better type Estates, I would like to see yet other improvements. For instance, the change of the name from Resettlement to Government Low-Cost Housing or Public Housing. I realize that it is not easy at the moment to erase the word Resettlement altogether, specially when we have some old estates which are resettlement slums in every sense of the word, but there is nothing to prevent us from phasing these out gradually, beginning with Estates under construction and, of course, those in the building programme to follow, so that, in future people would be moved into Low-Cost or Public Housing rather than be resettled. After all, for how long more are we going to resettle our residents? The translation of the word "Resettlement" into Chinese has undignified connotation, inferring lower class citizens or perhaps charity.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
all concerned are put to tackling it immediately, so that the problem can at least be contained in the first instance. It is regrettable that individual cases were reasons for postponements and delays in certain operations in the past. I trust this will no longer be so and your We must move Department will not be interrupted through such cases. ahead if we wish to succeed and success here cannot be won through popularity contests.
The Marble Road Hawker Operation and the completion of the Tin Chiu Street Hawker Bazaar to accommodate the decanted hawkers and more recently the Chun Yeung Street operation which took place only two days ago were solid examples of how the hawker problem could be effectively, fairly and firmly dealt with. The efforts put into the building of the Tin Chiu Street Bazaar were particularly heartening because it was an admirable example of whole-hearted co-operation between the Government and the people on the one hand and between the hawkers and the kaifong on the other. It is unfortunately not easy in the densely populated areas to find suitable sites or adequate space to accommodate all the hawkers, but I would like to make an earnest plea that your Department, Mr. Chairman, should draw the attention of Government to the very pressing need in these areas so that the highest possible priority could be accorded to the allocation of land for use as hawker bazaars. Without this, there is a very severe limitation as to what can be done to implement basic and permanent improvements. I should like to stress again that what matters most is effective action on the ground. This is an important and difficult job, and we need a first-class Hawker Control Force to do it.
I regret to point out, however, that the conditions of employment and benefits compared with other disciplined services are really very inferior indeed. We have some good, dedicated men but not all have maintained their high morale and efficiency because of the insurmount- able difficulties, resulting in these men looking for other employment more often than not with Government, for a better deal. I would therefore very earnestly request you, Sir, to make representations to Government to ensure that better conditions of employment and more attractive benefits can be given to the H.C.F. to attract better quality
men.
Speaking of benefits, I find it very difficult to accept that one of the solutions to our welfare problem is the issuance of fixed-pitch hawker licences on compassionate grounds. What we need is a better public assistance programme. Perhaps we should consider the pos- sibilities of Government sponsoring farming in Lantau, Lamma and our other islands for those who have been cultivators, duck or pig breeders all their lives, and are unaccustomed to other ways of making a living.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
279
A glance at the list showing nearly 630 pig breeders, heads of families, and persons who have been allocated resettlement shops and nearly 100 in another list still awaiting their shops, will no doubt indicate to some extent the large number of people in this category who could be given proper encouragement and facilities to continue with their trade. Compensation and resettlement shops as alternatives are not the answers to these people's problems.
We must not delay any further in our programme to give the physically-handicapped proper training and, not less important, to place them in industry and commercial establishments where they are suited. The public must be made conscious that just because a person is physically-handicapped, it does not mean that he is incapable of earn- ing an honest living and of becoming a useful citizen. One may ask what is the Social Welfare Department doing to find jobs for over 14,000 registered disabled persons?
Likewise, census shows that in the near future, the number of aged people will increase considerably because of the composition of our current population. What is being done to meet this problem? Are we anticipating that the aged will remain at home and be looked after by their families in over-crowded conditions, even though we are aware that circumstances are changing and because of this there is a clear indication that family ties are growing weaker and a new pattern of family life and habits of the community emerging.
Recently, much has been done for youths by way of recreation and entertainment, but have we got any programme to improve the quality and to broaden the outlook of the new generation? Can we not create some scheme to sponsor these young people for trips overseas whereby they can learn through exchange of views and observations, and return after a summer's course with new ideas to generate these for our benefit?
Another observation I would like to make concerns Resettlement. While efforts are being made in the field of decantation and better type Estates, I would like to see yet other improvements. For instance, the change of the name from Resettlement to Government Low-Cost Housing or Public Housing. I realize that it is not easy at the moment to erase the word Resettlement altogether, specially when we have some old estates which are resettlement slums in every sense of the word, but there is nothing to prevent us from phasing these out gradually, begin- ning with Estates under construction and, of course, those in the build- ing programme to follow, so that, in future people would be moved into Low-Cost or Public Housing rather than be resettled. After all, for how long more are we going to resettle our residents? The transla- tion of the word "Resettlement" into Chinese has undignified connota- tion, inferring lower class citizens or perhaps charity.
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