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Resettlement Estates, where the residents in the older blocks do not even have their own kitchen. Their demand for cooked food must be met though I do not believe that cooked food hawkers operating in the old way that we know is the answer.
Our thinking must be flexible. We should study new ideas and methods of selling cooked food, such as cooked food bazaars. These would be on several floors of a permanent concrete building rather on the lines of a market. Each floor would be divided into stalls, each with its own kitchen and food preparation facilities. The seating accommodation would be shared in common so that the customer could buy cooked food from any stall or perhaps from several stalls and then take his food to a table to eat.
These bazaars could be operated by the Council in the same manner as markets, each stall holder being charged a rent. In this way, standards of hygiene can be maintained, as each stall would have its own running water and cooking facilities. At the same time, the stall holder would not have to incur the heavy capital expenses necessary to start a general restaurant, so that the cooked food sold in the bazaars can be kept comparatively cheap.
Our problem here is one of suitable space for building these bazaars. In the central urban area, this will be difficult but in the Resettlement Estates, where the need is greatest, space may be available. Cooked food bazaars will be a useful supplement to the service provided by the existing general restaurants and light refreshment restaurants.
Another idea that we should consider is to allow hawkers to sell food which has been precooked and packed in disposable containers. My idea is not to allow the hawker to cook the food on the spot or to wash the dishes and utensils in a small bucket of water. Those of us, who have seen cooked food hawkers wash plates and dishes in a bucket of water which has been used over and over again, will realize how insanitary that is. My idea is to stop this, but to allow hawkers at suitable locations to sell meals in disposable containers. The food must of course be prepared at proper food factories. This would eliminate the main objection to the cooked food hawker, while making it possible for cheap food to be supplied where most needed.
In the field of Resettlement it is evident that we should direct our attention to improving the quality of our existing housing. Nowadays, individual supplies of tap water, electric lighting and cooking and washing facilities are regarded as bare necessities of life. Some of our older resettlement blocks still lack these facilities. It should be our aim during the coming year to provide all resettlement tenants with their own water supply and proper electric wiring. Because of the design of the Mark I and Mark II blocks, it will be difficult to provide a proper kitchen or cooking facilities for each tenant except as a result of a large-scale reconversion of these blocks. Such reconversion will certainly be difficult to carry out because of the tenants' reluctance to move.
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We have noticed this in our attempts to deal with the problem of overcrowding. Again and again the tenants who are living in extremely overcrowded conditions in the older, more centrally located estates will refuse to move to other outlying estates, even where the accommodation offered is larger and better in every way than their existing premises, except in the one important matter of location. As we would not wish to compel tenants to move but will only use persuasion, it is obvious that this problem is not an easy one to solve. Perhaps we should consider charging a higher rent for centrally located estates and a lower rent for outlying estates in order to induce tenants to take up accommodation in the outlying estates.
Finally, I would like to add a plea of urgency in the matter of urban renewal. To carry this out successfully, participation by private developers is required in conjunction with Government agencies. The property market is now booming. Private developers are showing great interest in redevelopment. I see from a report in the papers that even American investors are thinking of investing in real property in Hong Kong. Let us grasp the present opportunity to get rid of our old and decaying slums to make way for properly planned development.
With these remarks, I have much pleasure in supporting the Motion. (Applause).
MR. PETER C. K. CHAN:-Sir, according to an expert who has been giving evidence about membership of a Triad Society for years, a person can be enrolled as a triad member in 2 minutes by learning a few passwords and how to make some signs with his fingers. The expert also informed the Court and the public that the process is called "Hanging of Blue Lantern" and can be done in a cafe or restaurant quietly without being noticed by people in other parts of the cafe.
Recently, more and more young people have been convicted for triad membership in the Courts of Law. The highest Court in this Colony (namely, the Full Court) once suggested to the Government (in January 1967) that consideration should be given to introducing a temporary amnesty for triad members who give themselves up. The Government has made no public statement on this matter at all.
The generally accepted view is that once a man becomes a member of such a society, he will always be a member.
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Page 176 of 237
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Resettlement Estates, where the residents in the older blocks do not even have their own kitchen. Their demand for cooked food must be met though I do not believe that cooked food hawkers operating in the old way that we know is the answer.
Our thinking must be flexible. We should study new ideas and methods of selling cooked food, such as cooked food bazaars. These would be on several floors of a permanent concrete building rather on the lines of a market. Each floor would be divided into stalls, each with its own kitchen and food preparation facilities. The seating accommodation would be shared in common so that the customer could buy cooked food from any stall or perhaps from several stalls and then take his food to a table to eat.
These bazaars could be operated by the Council in the same manner as markets, each stall holder being charged a rent. In this way, standards of hygiene can be maintained, as each stall would have its own running water and cooking facilities. At the same time, the stall holder would not have to incur the heavy capital expenses necessary to start a general restaurant, so that the cooked food sold in the bazaars can be kept comparatively cheap.
Our problem here is one of suitable space for building these bazaars. In the central urban area, this will be difficult but in the Resettlement Estates, where the need is greatest, space may be available. Cooked food bazaars will be a useful supplement to the service provided by the existing general restaurants and light refresh-
ment restaurants.
Another idea that we should consider is to allow hawkers to sell food which has been precooked and packed in disposable containers. My idea is not to allow the hawker to cook the food on the spot or to wash the dishes and utensils in a small bucket of water. Those of us, who have seen cooked food hawkers wash plates and dishes in a bucket of water which has been used over and over again, will realize how insanitary that is. My idea is to stop this, but to allow hawker at suitable location to sell meals in disposable containers. The food must of course be prepared at proper food factories. This would eliminate the main objection to the cooked food hawker, while making it possible for cheap food to be supplied where most needed.
In the field of Resettlement it is evident that we should direct our attention to improving the quality of our existing housing. Nowadays, individual supplies of tap water, electric lighting and cooking and washing facilities are regarded as bare necessities of life. Some of our older resettlement blocks still lack these facilities. It should be our aim during the coming year to provide all resettlement tenants with their own water supply and proper electric wiring. Because of the
to move.
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329
design of the Mark I and Mark II blocks, it will be difficult to provide a proper kitchen or cooking facilities for each tenant except as a result of a large scale reconversion of these blocks. Such reconversion will certainly be difficult to carry out because of the tenants' reluctance We have noticed this in our attempts to deal with the problem of overcrowding. Again and again the tenants who are living in extremely overcrowded conditions in the older, more centrally located estates will refuse to move to other outlying estates, even where the accommodation offered is larger and better in every way than their existing premises, except in the one important matter of location. As we would not wish to compel tenants to move but will only use persuasion, it is obvious that this problem is not an easy one to solve. Perhaps we should consider charging a higher rent for centrally located estates and a lower rent for outlying estates in order to induce tenants to take up accommodation in the outlying estates.
Finally, I would like to add a plea of urgency in the matter of urban renewal. To carry this out successfully, participation by private developers is required in conjunction with Government agencies. The property market is now booming. Private developers are show- ing great interest in redevelopment. I see from a report in the papers that even American investors are thinking of investing in real property in Hong Kong. Let us grasp the present opportunity to get rid of our old and decaying slum to make way for properly planned development.
With these remarks, I have much pleasure in supporting the Motion. (Applause).
MR. PETER C. K. CHAN:-Sir, according to an expert who has been giving evidence about membership of a Triad Society for years, a person can be enrolled as a triad member in 2 minutes by learning a few pass words and how to make some signs with his fingers. The expert also informed the Court and the public that the process is called "Hanging of Blue Lantern" and can be done in a cafe or restaurant quietly without being noticed by people in other parts of the cafe.
Recently, more and more young people have been convicted for triad membership in the Courts of Law. The highest Court in this Colony (namely, the Full Court) once suggested to the Government (in January 1967) that consideration should be given to introducing a temporary amnesty for triad members who give themselves up. The Government has made no public statement on this matter at all.
The generally accepted view is that once a man becomes a member of such society, he will always be a member.
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