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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, Mr. Hu asked a supplementary so therefore it must be answered.
CHAIRMAN:----Could you get to the question please.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I am trying to answer Mr. Hu, as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee. I would like to finish off what I was going to say that this could be done when we get the additional staff, because it is very desirable that we do take these urgently needed steps to bring about more order in hawker matters in resettlement estates in order to improve the living environment of people there.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, as this is Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's swan song as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee you should have shown him some latitude. (Laughter).
MR. HU:-Yes, Mr. Chairman, I just want to ask you one question, or ask Mr. CHEONG-LEEN. Are you aware, Mr. Chairman, that in the resettlement estates the hawkers are now controlled by the tidiness teams in the resettlement estates instead of anyone else?
CHAIRMAN: Indeed I am, Mr. Hu. I asked the Resettlement Department to obtain these teams to prevent, first of all, the new estates from deteriorating and to do what it could to help generally in this matter.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to put on record that the tidiness teams were employed to clear obstructions, not to control hawkers. The hawker control is the responsibility of the Urban Council, and the executive arm of the Urban Council is the Urban Services Department.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, can I ask for clarification whether you as Director of Urban Services and the Commissioner for Resettlement are trying to prove today that you are cooperating closely with each other, or that you don't want to co-operate closely with each other?
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, I suppose the tidiness teams are not empowered to use the crow bars for hitting hawkers as I saw them doing last week?
CHAIRMAN:-The question is out of order, Mrs. ELLIOTT.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, are crow bars standard equipment for tidiness teams?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:----Mr. Chairman, might I, as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee, answer the supplementary question Mr. Hu has in mind, because I do believe he is very much concerned with the problem as I am. Yes, the tidiness teams have been doing a tremendous amount to co-operate with the Urban Services Department in the control of hawkers in resettlement estates, but to go beyond what they are doing now I think it would be a physical impossibility. We will just have to wait until the Executive Council meet and decides to give us the staff and money and other resources we want.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I was very serious in asking you whether crow bars are standard equipment for tidiness teams and I think it is a very serious matter that members of the staff of the department related to the Urban Council should use crow bars in dealing with the public.
CHAIRMAN:-Crow bars are used to deal with the huts.
MR. SALES: We are assured by Mrs. ELLIOTT that they are used for dealing with members of the public.
CHAIRMAN:-That is no criterion, Mr. SALES.
MR. SALES-Has Mrs. ELLIOTT stated it is no criterion?
CHAIRMAN: --No.
(12) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:
Now this year's Urban Council Election is over, could the Chairman inform the Council has Government any intention to enlarge the franchise for the future election of the Council? Many local people wish to vote but they have no right to do so.
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-
The franchise is one of the many issues surrounding the future of the Urban Council on which Government's decision is awaited.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, I congratulate you on the very simple answer to my question. May I ask you if the Government will decide this question in the near future?
CHAIRMAN:-I would like to think so, Mr. Hu.
MR. HU: You think so, Mr. Chairman. How near would that be?
CHAIRMAN:-I cannot be more specific.
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Page 26 of 242
32
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, Mr. Hu asked a supplemen- tary so therefore it must be answered
CHAIRMAN: ----Could you get to the question please.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I am trying to answer Mr. Hu, as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee. I would like to finish off what I was going to say that this could be done when we get the additional staff, because it is very desirable that we do take these urgently needed steps to bring about more order in hawker matters in resettlement estates in order to improve the living environment of people there.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, as this is Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's swan song as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee you should have shown him some latitude. (Laughter).
MR. HU:-Yes, Mr. Chairman, I just want to ask you one ques- tion, or ask Mr. CHEONG-LEEN. Are you aware, Mr. Chairman, that in the resettlement estates the hawkers are now controlled by the tidiness teams in the resettlement estates instead of anyone else?
CHAIRMAN: Indeed I am, Mr. Hu. I asked the Resettlement Department to obtain these teams to prevent, first of all, the new estates from deteriorating and to do what it could to help generally in this
matter.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to put on record that the tidiness teams were employed to clear obstruc- tions, not to control hawkers. The hawker control is the responsibility of the Urban Council, and the executive arm of the Urban Council is the Urban Services Department.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, can I ask for clarification whether you as Director of Urban Services and the Commissioner for Resettlement are trying to prove today that you are cooperating closely with each other, or that you don't want to co-operate closely with each other?
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, I suppose the tidiness teams are not empowered to use the crow bars for hitting hawkers as I saw them doing last week?
CHAIRMAN:-The question is out of order, Mrs. ELLIOTT.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, are crow bars standard equipment for tidiness teams?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:----Mr. Chairman, might I, as Chairman of the Hawker Policy Select Committee, answer the supplementary question Mr. Hu has in mind, because I do believe he is very much concerned
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
33
with the problem as I am. Yes, the tidiness teams have been doing a tremendous amount to co-operate with the Urban Services Department in the control of hawkers in resettlement estates, but to go beyond what they are doing now I think it would be a physical impossibility. We will just have to wait until the Executive Council meet and decides to give us the staff and money and other resources we want.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I was very serious in asking you whether crow bars are standard equipment for tidiness teams and I think it is a very serious matter that members of the staff of the depart- ment related to the Urban Council should use crow bars in dealing with the public.
CHAIRMAN:-Crow bars are used to deal with the huts.
MR. SALES: We are assured by Mrs. ELLIOTT that they are used for dealing with members of the public.
CHAIRMAN:-That is no criterion, Mr. SALES.
MR. SALES-Has Mrs. ELLIOTT stated it is no criterion?
CHAIRMAN: --No.
(12) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:
Now this year's Urban Council Election is over, could the Chairman inform the Council has Government any inten- tion to enlarge the franchise for the future election of the Council? Many local people wish to vote but they have no right to do so.
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-
The franchise is one of the many issues surrounding the future of the Urban Council on which Government's decision is awaited.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, I congratulate you on the very simple answer to my question. May I ask you if the Government will decide this question in the near future?
be?
CHAIRMAN:-I would like to think so, Mr. Hu.
MR. HU: You think so, Mr. Chairman. How near would that
CHAIRMAN:-I cannot be more specific.
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