HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Members of the public in their own interest should realize that it is dangerous to buy fresh meat and fish from hawkers selling such food in the streets.
The Hawker Policy, Hawker Management and the Markets Select Committees will be seeking suitable sites for Mini-Markets-cum-Hawker Bazaars where drainage facilities would be provided and where possibly fresh fish could be sold at designated and licensed sites for the convenience of residents. These Mini-Markets-cum-Hawker Bazaars will be simple in structure, easy and quick to build, and will conform to public health requirements.
The Hawker Policy, Hawker Management and Markets Select Committees will all three work closely with the Food & Food Premises Select Committee to have such Mini-Markets-cum-Hawker Bazaars established in industrial and developing areas as soon as possible.
Meantime I am grateful to Mr. BERNACCHI for his continued interest in hawker matters, and assure him that even though we may sometimes have different views on the subject, his suggestions will at all times be carefully considered.
I look forward to more of such motions in the future so that we can be given the opportunity to tell the community of the Urban Council's policy and plans on hawkers.
MR. R. H. LOBO:- Mr. Chairman, one of the primary responsibilities of this Council is the protection of public health as the mover of the motion has said in his opening remarks, and from this aspect alone, Members of this Council will have to consider very seriously the merits of this motion.
I have, however, other strong reasons for rising to speak against this Motion. As Chairman of the Markets Select Committee, far from appreciating the need for fresh fish to be hawked in the streets, I am dismayed that we have so far been unsuccessful in preventing such hawking. The Markets Select Committee is heavily engaged in overseeing a programme of construction and re-construction of markets to provide the public with modern and hygienic facilities for the purchase of fresh fish. It is bad enough having to contend with the existing limited amount of illegal hawking of fish as you have heard. Mr. CHEONG-LEEN said 300 to 400 and not thousands. To permit the hawking of fresh fish, which is one of the principal market commodities, on a wide scale would be to completely undermine the efforts of my Select Committee to provide Hong Kong with the modern facilities it needs and deserves.
Furthermore, the paraphernalia, such as tubs, ice and other requirements of the trade, will create additional problems of space and obstruction and give rise to chaos in the already difficult situation with hawkers which this Council is striving to remedy. Because of this, and other obvious reasons, I cannot support this Motion.
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo:- Mr. Chairman, I am keenly aware of our duty to ensure a readily available supply of food to people in Hong Kong. But in our efforts to facilitate the supply of provisions, we must not lose sight of one thing and that is the need to maintain an adequate standard of public health and hygiene.
In Hong Kong, we are rather inclined to take for granted that the food we buy and the meals we eat in restaurants and other public places will be clean and wholesome. Our record in this respect is better than that of many other countries in the tropics. We should pause to ask ourselves why this is so. Are we specially lucky? Or is it that germs and other harmful organisms somehow find it more difficult to breed and multiply in our climate? Of course, the answer is no, to both questions. I believe we have achieved our high standard of public health through years of hard and unremitting effort. We should seek to raise our standards of public health or at least make sure that we do not lower them.
It is my firm conviction that to allow hawkers to sell fresh fish will constitute a health hazard and inevitably lead to a lowering of our standards. No matter what conditions we seek to impose, the sale of fresh fish by hawkers can never be satisfactory. Without means of refrigeration, without means of keeping the fish alive, the hawker of fresh fish is a menace to public health.
I am aware that illegal hawking of fresh fish goes on every day. This is a matter which I would gladly remit to the Hawker Policy Committee in order to eliminate or at least reduce such a dangerous practice. Far from seeking to do this, the resolution asks us to legalise these illegal hawkers.
Fresh fish should be sold from properly organized markets or bazaars or in fresh provision shops. In some areas, the nearest markets or provision shops may be some distance away, so that at first sight, it may appear more convenient to buy fresh fish from a near-by hawker. It may be more convenient, but it is also more dangerous to health. It is not too much to ask the public to buy from properly licensed sources of supply rather than from hawkers. To do so would be in their own interest, and that of public health in general.
For these reasons, I also must oppose the Motion before the Council.
MRS. E. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, I was not prepared to make a speech, but I find nothing, either in the motion or in the speech of
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Members of the public in their own interest should realize that it is dangerous to buy fresh meat and fish from hawkers selling such food in the streets.
The Hawker Policy, Hawker Management and the Markets Select Committees will be seeking suitable sites for Mini-Markets-cum-Hawker Bazaars where drainage facilities would be provided and where possibly fresh fish could be sold at designated and licensed sites for the con- venience of residents. These Mini-Markets-cum-Hawker Bazaars will be simple in structure, easy and quick to build, and will conform to public health requirements.
The Hawker Policy, Hawker Management and Markets Select Committees will all three work closely with the Food & Food Premises Select Committee to have such Mini-Markets-cum-Hawker Bazaars established in industrial and developing areas as soon as possible.
Meantime I am grateful to Mr. BERNACCHI for his continued interest in hawker matters, and assure him that even though we may sometimes have different views on the subject, his suggestions will at all times be carefully considered.
I look forward to more of such motions in the future so that we can be given the opportunity to tell the community of the Urban Council's policy and plans on hawkers.
MR. R. H. LOBO:-Mr. Chairman, one of the primary responsi- bilities of this Council is the protection of public health as the mover of the motion has said in his opening remarks, and from this aspect alone, Members of this Council will have to consider very seriously the merits of this motion.
I have, however, other strong reasons for rising to speak against this Motion. As Chairman of the Markets Select Committee, far from appreciating the need for fresh fish to be hawked in the streets, I am dismayed that we have so far been unsuccessful in preventing such hawking. The Markets Select Committee is heavily engaged in over- seeing a programme of construction and re-construction of markets to provide the public with modern and hygienic facilities for the purchase of fresh fish. It is bad enough having to contend with the existing limited amount of illegal hawking of fish as you have heard. Mr. CHEONG-LEEN said 300 to 400 and not thousands. To permit the hawking of fresh fish, which is one of the principal market commodities, on a wide scale would be to completely undermine the efforts of my Select Committee to provide Hong Kong with the modern facilities it needs and deserves.
Furthermore, the paraphernalia, such as tubs, ice and other require- ments of the trade, will create additional problems of space and
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91
obstruction and give rise to chaos in the already difficult situation with hawkers which this Council is striving to remedy. Because of this, and other obvious reasons, I cannot support this Motion.
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo:-Mr. Chairman, I am keenly aware of our duty to ensure a readily available supply of food to people in Hong Kong. But in our efforts to faciliate the supply of provisions, we must not lose sight of one thing and that is the need to maintain an adequate standard of public health and hygiene.
In Hong Kong, we are rather inclined to take for granted that the food we buy and the meals we eat in restaurants and other public places will be clean and wholesome. Our record in this respect is better than that of many other countries in the tropics. We should pause to ask ourselves why this is so. Are we specially lucky? Or is it that germs and other harmful organisms somehow find it more difficult to breed and multiply in our climate? Of course, the answer is no, to both questions. I believe we have achieved our high standard of public health through years of hard and unremitting effort. We should seek to raise our standards of public health or at least make sure that we do not lower them.
It is my firm conviction that to allow hawkers to sell fresh fish will constitute a health hazard and inevitably lead to a lowering of our standards. No matter what conditions we seek to impose, the sale of fresh fish by hawkers can never be satisfactory. Without means of refrigeration, without means of keeping the fish alive, the hawker of fresh fish is a menace to public health.
I am aware that illegal hawking of fresh fish goes on every day. This is a matter which I would gladly remit to the Hawker Policy Committee in order to eliminate or at least reduce such a dangerous practice. Far from seeking to do this, the resolution asks us to legalise these illegal hawkers.
Fresh fish should be sold from properly organized markets or bazaars or in fresh provision shops. In some areas, the nearest markets or provision shops may be some distance away, so that at first sight, it may appear more convenient to buy fresh fish from a near-by hawker. It may be more convenient, but it is also more dangerous to health. It is not too much to ask the public to buy from properly licensed sources of supply rather than from hawkers. To do so would be in their own interest, and that of public health in general.
For these reasons, I also must oppose the Motion before the Council.
MRS. E. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, I was not prepared to make a speech, but I find nothing, either in the motion or in the speech of
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