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rapidly. As this Council is generally believed to be the authority for both the Resettlement and Cleansing Services of this Colony, would the Chairman inform us is there any plan to improve the situation?

MR. HENRY H. L. Hu, CHAIRMAN OF THE RESETTLEMENT MANAGE- MENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:

Mr. Chairman, the Resettlement Management Select Com- mittee is fully conscious of the unsatisfactory sanitary conditions in the resettlement estates. Part of the reason for this is due to the presence of large numbers of hawkers in the public areas of the estates, who make cleansing very difficult. Another factor is the lack of hygiene consciousness among resettlement tenants, who throw refuse from the windows and balconies. Thus, while all estates are swept clean at least twice a day, they become dirty again almost immediately. Some improvement has been brought about by the introduc- tion of Tidiness Teams and further teams have been requested. It is also proposed to provide more litter bins in the estates; and to consider ways of increasing the direct cleansing force.

There can however be no major improvement in the situation until the population can be made more cleanliness-minded. One possibility might be for Resettlement residents to be responsible for the cleanliness of their own block; it is intended to examine this possibility in more detail in the Select Committees.

DR. HUANG: Mr. Chairman, I thank Mr. Hu, who has given a rather pessimistic reply to the question. But rather myself I could give no good solution to this-I only want to suggest that if the Chair- man of the Resettlement Management Select Committee could have contact with the Kaifong leaders to see whether they can help them- selves with the assistance of the Resettlement Department.

MRS. E. ELLIOTT:—Mr. Chairman, I notice that in the reply no mention is made of unsatisfactory cleansing companies. Could it be confirmed that the cleansing companies are all satisfactory, or is it not true that some of them are completely unsatisfactory?

COMMISSIONER for ResettlEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, they do vary very considerably. Some are, perhaps, worse than others, put it that

way.

MRS. ELLIOTT: Mr. Chairman, may I mention Ngau Tau Kok. Would the Commissioner confirm that Ngau Tau Kok needs a change?

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COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:—I'll take that into considera- tion, Mr. Chairman-I cannot confirm it off-hand.

MR. HU:-In answer to Dr. HUANG's question, I would say that of course everybody knows that our Select Committees have no execu- tive power, but certainly we will, the Select Committee will, request the Department to contact Kaifong associations to do more cleaning work for the resettlement estates.

(3) DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question:

The hawker situation in our old Resetlement Estates has been out of our control for a long time. For instance, certain streets in Wong Tai Sin Resettlement Estate are almost totally blocked by hawkers. I note with regret that the number of hawkers in our newly completed and sup- posedly well planned Resettlement Estates is also mush- rooming and which contributes greatly to the filthy condition of these Estates. Since both hawkers and resettlement affairs are within the jurisdiction of this Council, would the Chairman please inform us what plan the Council has to rectify this situation?

MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKER POLICY SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-

There are designated hawker bazaars in most resettlement Unauthorized estates with sites allocated to hawkers. hawkers trade in the vicinity of these bazaars in competi- tion with those within the bazaars and as a result, the site-holders themselves return to the streets and com- pounds of the estates.

With the present limited manpower for the time being, it is not possible to mount any sustained action to restore order in the bazaars and on the periphery of bazaars.

There are at present about 12,000 hawkers in resettlement estates. Operations are being undertaken daily by the Tidiness Teams of the Resettlement Department, but in view of staff limitations, priority is at present being given to clearing hawkers operating within the lobbies of the blocks, and to preventing new structures from being built outside. Every month about 100 lobby structures and about 500 other hawker structures are demolished or reduced in size. However it is apparent that the spread of hawkers is only just being contained.