1971 — Page 68

Page 68 of 242

116

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

and other City Administrations with similar problems for really over ten years. As long as I have been in the Council this matter has been under discussion and developments in Hong Kong have changed so rapidly that as soon as a decision has been taken by the Council, it has become outdated and other important issues are also involved such as engaging staff and financing them, collecting fees for advertisements and so on. Now that a final decision has been taken, the matter is in point of fact in the drafting stage. How long the Legal Department takes is a matter beyond our control but perhaps Mr. BERNACCHI, as a lawyer, is more familiar with such delays than we are.

MR. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, Mr. SALES has not answered my second point, namely how long have they been with the Legal Department?

MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I don't know, as I said earlier how long they have been. In point of fact the instructions are given by your department. This is a departmental matter and not for the Select Committee.

CHAIRMAN:--They have been there for some months, but that is as far as I can say, Mr. BERNACCHI.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-To your knowledge, Mr. Chairman, has the Urban Services Department requested the Legal Department to give its attention to the drafting of these By-laws as a matter of priority?

CHAIRMAN:-I don't think so, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN.

MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, concerning the occulting signs, can Mr. SALES disclose some of the reasons given by the various departments for refusing to grant this or do they just say a plain "no"?

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I have a report here which I will gladly table. It is a long report. In essence four major departments were consulted-Police, Marine, Transport and Medical and Health. A Select Committee was set up and I think Mr. FORSGATE was the Chairman of the Sub-Committee, I am sorry not Select Committee. I think traffic confusion with occulting signs, navigation in the harbour, health reasons in such a densely populated city as Hong Kong were among the factors which decided the select committee not to go ahead with this but there was the additional question of air and harbour navigational hazards against the background of occulting signs. I would like with your permission, Sir, to give a copy of this report to Mr. P. K. NG, and he might also wish to discuss this matter with Mr. FORSGATE who was Chairman of this Sub-Committee at that time.

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

117

MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, is the situation in Hong Kong any different from Picadilly Circus in London?

MR. SALES-I should hope so. (Laughter).

CHAIRMAN: -For the benefit of other Members of the Council who are not getting a copy of the report, I would add that some of the strongest objections to the occulting signs came from an elected Member of this Council.

MR. SALES: In fact a Member of the Reform Club, Dr. BELL, objected very strongly throughout in Select Committee and in Sub-Committee and we also very strongly supported Dr. BELL.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I also say that I supported the Police on this in the Transport Advisory Committee because they gave very good reasons.

MR. SALES: Does not Mrs. ELLIOTT see other reasons for supporting the Police at other times? (Laughter).

MR. HENRY HU:-May I ask one supplementary. I understand there was strong representation about these By-laws by the Advertisement Association. Have you received such a written representation and have you forwarded these representations to the Legal Department?

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, certainly this matter is not for the Legal Department. We give instructions to the Legal Department on what we want them to draft and the objections of the Advertisement Association were considered by the Select Committee and where they were in line with the recommendations of the Select Committee naturally they were taken. In other cases they were considered. If I recall, some could be accepted, others could not because we cannot give way to commercial interests where the health of the people is in danger.

CHAIRMAN: ---I would like to add, ladies and gentlemen, that we cleared our lines with the advertising association originally and we had no difficulty. Another association eventually came on the scene who were not an advertising association but apparently a group of neon sign manufacturers. They were the people who objected.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, in order that the draft By-laws will not get out of date this time again, could your Department ask the Legal Department to give it a little more priority?

CHAIRMAN: I will try.

MR. BERNACCHI:-Well, as these regulations were suggested to be out of date even in 1952, surely some priority should be now given to these By-laws?

Page 69 of 242