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and outsize shop canopies. To date, over 2,000 outsize canopies have been reduced to the permitted size of 4 feet; and illegal extensions to 345 restaurants and cafes in urban estates have been removed. Permits have been issued for the areas in which outside seating is allowed.
In addition, routine tidying-up action continued in all estates. In June, 760 lorry loads of abandoned articles were disposed of, 149 hawkers inside the lobbies of blocks had their stalls or equipment removed, and 352 hawker stalls were reduced in size.
A more intensive joint operation began at Tsz Wan Shan Estate in July and is continuing. This is aimed at setting up properly organized hawker bazaars in which the hawkers would be licensed and would operate from standard sized stalls. At the same time, action is being taken against illegal extensions to shops. This will be followed by similar operations in other estates.
MR. FORSGATE:- Mr. Chairman, regular inspections seem to indicate that Wong Tai Sin is probably the worst Estate for unauthorized structures. When is an attempt going to be made to legalize the situation there?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: - Action has been taking place in Wong Tai Sin, Sir, but to achieve any lasting benefit it has to be continuous. It has to be done over and over again.
MR. FORSGATE:- Mr. Chairman, will not the Commissioner's problem be made more easy when the Hawker Control Force is expanded and extended, and the Police are persuaded to put support of the Resettlement Department's efforts on their priority list as well?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:—I should think that would be undoubtedly true, Mr. Chairman.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, would Mr. ASERAPPA agree that effective action in Wong Tai Sin cannot and will not take place until after his Department has acquired the additional staff which they have requested?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- I think, Sir, we are talking about two separate things. General action has been going on in Wong Tai Sin for some time to deal with unauthorized structures. An operation to deal with hawkers in particular must, of course, wait until we get the extra staff and we have finished operations in Tsz Wan Shan.
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MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, to pin-point the question, supplementary question rather, I had assumed that MR. FORSGATE particularly had in mind the hawker situation in Wong Tai Sin.
MR. FORSGATE:--I will ride that one out if I may, Mr. Chairman?
(13) DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question:
In view of complaints over unsatisfactory postal services in the newer resettlement estates, particularly those in outlying areas, can the Commissioner for Resettlement give an assurance that these complaints will be brought to the attention of the postal authorities with a view to early improvements being made?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
I confirm that any complaints regarding postal services in the newer resettlement estates are referred to the Postmaster General.
DR. HUANG:- Mr. Chairman, may I ask the Commissioner for Resettlement to tell us about those complaints he referred to the Postmaster, and when we may expect an answer from the Postmaster to improve that service?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Sir, I am in correspondence with the Postmaster General at the moment. The majority of these complaints, as I understand, were not made to the Resettlement Department specifically, but appeared in newspapers, and so I imagine that the Postmaster General was in fact already aware of them.
(14) DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question:-
I understand that post offices are, or will be, provided within resettlement estates in the outlying areas, but that the older estates in the built-up areas are not provided with post offices. In view of the large number of inhabitants in the older estates, would the Commissioner for Resettlement kindly undertake to request the postal authority to review its policy with a view to providing post offices in these older estates?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
Sir, I am asking the Postmaster General to review the postal facilities in the vicinity of the estates. However it would be difficult to find suitable premises for post offices within
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and outsize shop canopies. To date, over 2,000 outsize canopies have been reduced to the permitted size of 4 feet; and illegal extensions to 345 restaurants and cafes in urban estates have been removed. Permits have been issued for the areas in which outside seating is allowed.
In addition, routine tidying-up action continued in all estates. In June, 760 lorry loads of abandoned articles were disposed of, 149 hawkers inside the lobbies of blocks had their stalls or equipment removed, and 352 hawker stalls were reduced in size.
A more intensive joint operation began at Tsz Wan Shan Estate in July and is continuing. This is aimed at setting up properly organized hawker bazaars in which the hawkers would be licensed and would operate from standard sized stalls. At the same time, action is being taken against illegal extensions to shops. This will be followed by similar operations in other estates.
MR. FORSGATE:-Mr. Chairman, regular inspections seem to in- dicate that Wong Tai Sin is probably the worst Estate for unauthorized structures. When is an attempt going to be made to legalize the situation there?
COMMISSIONER for ResettleMENT: --Action has been taking place in Wong Tai Sin, Sir, but to achieve any lasting benefit it has to be continuous. It has to be done over and over again.
MR. FORSGATE:-Mr. Chairman, will not the Commissioner's problem be made more easy when the Hawker Control Force is expanded and extended, and the Police are persuaded to put support of the Resettlement Department's efforts on their priority list as well?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:—I should think that would be undoubtedly true, Mr. Chairman.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, would Mr. ASERAPPA agree that effective action in Wong Tai Sin cannot and will not take place until after his Department has acquired the additional staff which they have requested?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I think, Sir, we are talking about two separate things. General action has been going on in Wong Tai Sin for some time to deal with unauthorized structures. An operation to deal with hawkers in particular must, of course, wait until we get the extra staff and we have finished operations in Tsz Wan Shan.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
149
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, to pin-point the question, supplementary question rather, I had assumed that Mr. FORSGATE particularly had in mind the hawker situation in Wong Tai Sin.
MR. FORSGATE:--I will ride that one out if I may, Mr. Chairman?
(13) DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question : ·
In view of complaints over unsatisfactory postal services in the newer resettlement estates, particularly those in outlying areas, can the Commissioner for Resettlement give an assurance that these complaints will be brought to the attention of the postal authorities with a view to early improvements being made?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
I confirm that any complaints regarding postal services in the newer resettlement estates are referred to the Postmaster General.
DR. HUANG-Mr. Chairman, may I ask the Commissioner for Resettlement to tell us about those complaints he referred to the Postmaster, and when we may expect an answer from the Postmaster to improve that service?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:--Sir, I am in correspondence with the Postmaster General at the moment. The majority of these complaints, as I understand, were not made to the Resettlement Department specifically, but appeared in newspapers, and so I imagine that the Postmaster General was in fact already aware of them.
(14) DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question:-
I understand that post offices are, or will be, provided within resettlement estates in the outlying areas, but that the older estates in the built-up areas are not provided with post offices. In view of the large number of inhabitants in the older estates, would the Commissioner for Resettle- ment kindly undertake to request the postal authority to review its policy with a view to providing post offices in these older estates?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
Sir, I am asking the Postmaster General to review the postal facilities in the vicinity of the estates. However it would be difficult to find suitable premises for post offices within
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