HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
labourers and transport with which to come to grips with the considerable amount of refuse created in hawker areas. Until better and more manpower becomes available, however, the situation in hawker black-spots will not improve as we would like. And even if additional manpower were available today, its effect would not be as great as when revised Hawker By-laws come into force, the essentiality of which has been stressed by Mr. LOBO. The Hawker Policy Select Committee has spent a lot of time and thought over these By-laws, and I hope that they can be finalized and brought into force soon.
Another important aspect is the acceptance of the fact that hawking, these days, is a highly competitive business in which the most shrewd and astute businessman succeeds and that we must stop thinking in terms of welfare when dealing with hawker problems. As instanced by Mr. P. F. CHAN, hawking has become for many a very profitable business and we must adjust our own attitudes towards it so that the weak, the aged and the disabled are dissociated from the hawker sector and looked after by welfare agencies. At the same time, we must endeavour to curb the further growth of hawking by able-bodied persons especially the younger ones. I am therefore very glad to know that Mr. BERNACCHI proposes to tackle the problem of sub-letting and the social welfare aspect of hawking as priority issues in his Hawker Policy Select Committee.
In the meantime, efforts continue to tidy up as many hawker black-spots as possible with the limited resources available to us. Here I would like to pay tribute to the Commissioner for Resettlement and the Commissioner of Police for the assistance given and in some cases the initiative taken in this connection—particularly in Kowloon where we have no Hawker Control Force at all.
As regards market building and management, we have recently completed a critical review, the findings of which will certainly influence our thinking and planning philosophy on the provision and management of markets in the future. Our market management will indeed need to be streamlined and strengthened so that we can keep pace with progress and adapt ourselves to the requirements of modern marketing, and the rising needs of a more affluent community. I know how keen Mr. LOBO and his Committee are on this subject and that I can rely on them to assist us in whatever schemes we come up with to improve matters.
Dr. HUANG talking about the "Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign" continued to repeat the mistake he has made many times and to which I have drawn his attention just as often—apparently without effect. Namely, that it is not the Legal Department which decides what shall go into any legislation: they merely advise on its acceptability and content: the decision rests initially with the Secretariat and in the final analysis with the Legislative Council. It is therefore quite wrong for Dr. HUANG to go on pillorying the Legal Department for what has happened. The main change now envisaged in this legislation—and I think Members will agree it has advantages—is that instead of presuming someone is guilty of an offence, we lay responsibility for doing something firmly and squarely on the individual and if he fails to carry out his responsibility then, he is liable to prosecution. This is in fact what Mr. Kenneth Lo had in mind and we hope that we shall be able to have the law suitably amended.
I should perhaps add that in Singapore the presumption clause was used only infrequently while minimum fines were not set.
Mr. SALES wishes to know what is causing the delay in promulgating the proposed new Advertisements By-laws which, as Members will recall, have been in the process of parturition for a period of more than elephantine length. Although we have not yet reached the end of the road, I am happy to inform Members that this year has at last seen solid progress made. The Colonial Secretariat approved the drafting instructions in March, and at the end of May the first draft of the By-laws was received by the Department. The draft is of considerable complexity, and the Department has since been in correspondence with the Legal Department on a number of points. A paper has now been prepared for discussion at the December meeting of the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee, setting out the proposed By-laws, together with the questions raised by the Department, and when giving Members an opportunity of adding queries of their own.
all these queries have been resolved and the By-laws redrafted, and when the staffing costs (not only of my Department, but also of the other departments involved) are known and the necessary staff have been graded, complemented, established, recruited and trained, it should then be possible to promulgate these By-laws.
Turning to Mrs. ELLIOTT's contribution to this debate, with its quota of accusations and inaccuracies, constructive criticism is noticeable for its absence; there is not a word about furthering the Council's genuine aims while her sole declared reason for wishing to remain on the Council does not fall within its legitimate sphere: neither does one of her reasons for not supporting this motion. Which makes it all rather pointless.
In one instance, she tries to lay responsibility on a Select Committee when in fact (as everyone, who wants to, knows) responsibility lay upon the full Council, including her.
She also accuses Members of being merely rubber-stamps and the Department of trying to place all power in the hands of its officers. Both accusations are, of course, false. The truth is that, naturally and
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labourers and transport with which to come to grips with the consider- able amount of refuse created in hawker areas. Until better and more manpower becomes available, however, the situation in hawker black- spots will not improve as we would like. And even if additional man- power were available today, its effect would not be as great as when revised Hawker By-laws come into force, the essentiality of which has been stressed by Mr. LOBO. The Hawker Policy Select Committee has spent a lot of time and thought over these By-laws, and I hope that they can be finalized and brought into force soon.
Another important aspect is the acceptance of the fact that hawking, these days, is a highly competitive business in which the most shrewd and astute businessman succeeds and that we must stop thinking in terms of welfare when dealing with hawker problems. As instanced by Mr. P. F. CHAN, hawking has become for many a very profitable business and we must adjust our own attitudes towards it so that the weak, the aged and the disabled are dissociated from the hawker sector and looked after by welfare agencies. At the same time, we must endeavour to curb the further growth of hawking by able-bodied persons especially the younger ones. I am therefore very glad to know that Mr. BERNACCHI proposes to tackle the problem of sub-letting and the social welfare aspect of hawking as priority issues in his Hawker Policy Select Committee.
In the meantime, efforts continue to tidy up as many hawker black- spots as possible with the limited resources available to us. Here I would like to pay tribute to the Commissioner for Resettlement and the Commissioner of Police for the assistance given and in some cases the initiative taken in this connection-particularly in Kowloon where we have no Hawker Control Force at all.
As regards market building and management, we have recently com- pleted a critical review, the findings of which will certainly influence our thinking and planning philosophy on the provision and manage- ment of markets in the future. Our market management will indeed need to be streamlined and strengthened so that we can keep pace with progress and adapt ourselves to the requirements of modern marketing, and the rising needs of a more affluent community. I know how keen Mr. LOBO and his Committee are on this subject and that I can rely on them to assist us in whatever schemes we come up with to improve
matters.
Dr. HUANG talking about the "Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign" continued to repeat the mistake he has made many times and to which I have drawn his attention just as often-apparently without effect. Namely, that it is not the Legal Department which decides what shall go into any legislation: they merely advise on its acceptability and content: the decision rests initially with the Secretariat and in the
:
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
401
final analysis with the Legislative Council. It is therefore quite wrong for Dr. HUANG to go on pillorying the Legal Department for what has happened. The main change now envisaged in this legislation— and I think Members will agree it has advantages-is that instead of presuming someone is guilty of an offence, we lay responsibility for doing something firmly and squarely on the individual and if he fails to carry out his responsibility then, he is liable to prosecution. This is in fact what Mr. Kenneth Lo had in mind and we hope that we shall be able to have the law suitably amended.
I should perhaps add that in Singapore the presumption clause was used only infrequently while minimum fines were not set.
Mr. SALES wishes to know what is causing the delay in promulgat- ing the proposed new Advertisements By-laws which, as Members will recall, have been in the process of parturition for a period of more than elephantine length. Although we have not yet reached the end of the road, I am happy to inform Members that this year has at last seen solid progress made. The Colonial Secretariat approved the drafting instructions in March, and at the end of May the first draft of the By-laws was received by the Department. The draft is of con- siderable complexity, and the Department has since been in correspond- ence with the Legal Department on a number of points. A paper has now been prepared for discussion at the December meeting of the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee, setting out the proposed By-laws, together with the questions raised by the Department, and When giving Members an opportunity of adding queries of their own.
all these queries have been resolved and the By-laws redrafted, and when the staffing costs (not only of my Department, but also of the other departments involved) are known and the necessary staff have been graded, complemented, established, recruited and trained, it should then be possible to promulgate these By-laws.
Turning to Mrs. ELLIOTT's contribution to this debate, with its quota of accusations and inaccuracies, constructive criticism is notice- able for its absence; there is not a word about furthering the Council's genuine aims while her sole declared reason for wishing to remain on the Council does not fall within its legitimate sphere: neither does one of her reasons for not supporting this motion. Which makes it all rather pointless.
In one instance, she tries to lay responsibility on a Select Committee when in fact (as everyone, who wants to, knows) responsibility lay upon the full Council, including her.
She also accuses Members of being merely rubber-stamps and the Department of trying to place all power in the hands of its officers. Both accusations are, of course, false. The truth is that, naturally and
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