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public image because it is the open meetings which are broadcast and the open meetings which are publicized, but we all know that behind the scenes it is the Unofficials who do the donkey work in their Select Committees and who work very co-operatively with the Officials. The time I have been on the Council, I have had nothing but encouragement and co-operation from Members of Council and I take this opportunity to thank them for it.

All

Sir, I have great pleasure in supporting the motion before Council. (Applause).

DR. J. K. CRAIG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES (In English):- Mr. Chairman, this is my third and last speech to Council at the Annual Conventional Debate, and before “loss of privilege" I should like to take advantage of the opportunity offered to convey to Council my congratulations on "the substantial degree of financial autonomy" which it is presently to assume and to wish it well in its new form. It has been a memorable experience for me to have served as a Council Member for the past two and a half years and to have witnessed the solid achievements which the efforts of the Council have helped to bring about, within its sphere of responsibility, in the environmental public health and general well-being of the urban community. The impressive success of the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign, in itself has been a remarkable accomplishment and a solid demonstration of what the Council, the Government, and the People with due resolve can achieve. The confidence which such success generates in the community is bound to establish a community-pride and to reflect in ensuring the outcome of other ventures which the Council may undertake in the future.

I am pleased once again to be able to report that Hong Kong has remained free of major epidemics during the year and that the health of the community continues to improve, having vital statistic rates which now compare very favourably with anywhere else in the world.

Despite the fact that cholera germs were isolated on several occasions from nightsoil samples, no actual cases of the disease were diagnosed in Hong Kong during the year. This implies that the means of spread of the disease have been denied by good personal hygiene and the protection of water and food for consumption. The Council has contributed in no small way to this success, and the implementation of its policies with regards to food and food premises and general hygiene has safeguarded the public from the outbreaks of cholera from which our less fortunate neighbours have suffered during the year.

However, there is no room for complacency, and, though there is a continuing reduction in the trend of the incidences of gastrointestinal diseases in Hong Kong, there are still too many cases of typhoid, dysentery, and amoebiasis occurring in the community each year, all of which could have been prevented had our personal and food hygiene been even better. It should be the Council's aim to continue to tighten up and improve standards of hygiene and food preparation so that these diseases will eventually be completely controlled. The public's health should not be put at risk by making exceptions or exemptions for particular individuals or circumstances within the trade. One, of course, would not wish to make and apply completely impracticable and unreasonable conditions and requirements for the preparation of food and for food premises. The responsibilities are great for those either in the home or in restaurants or on the roadside who prepare food for others to consume, and the Council's policy in running courses for food handlers should be encouraged and extended. Every opportunity must be taken to educate the public to appreciate the dangers of poor personal hygiene and contaminated food and on what is being done by the Council and the Urban Services Department to ensure that food produced for sale in Hong Kong is safe and wholesome.

My colleagues Mr. Kenneth Lo and Mr. Henry Hu in their speeches raised the question of food caterers who supply meals for consumption off the premises. Recently, there have been protests from the trade because some of its members have been successfully prosecuted for running unlicensed businesses, and the trade is seeking modification of the requirements laid down by this Council for the licensing of food factories. Over the past two years, the Council and the Urban Services Department have been revising and reviewing licensing procedures and requirements and conditions for all food business licences. The review was finalized in July of this year, and the revised procedures, requirements, and conditions, which embody only the minimum essential health standards, applied from that date. Therefore, there are no concessions or modifications of requirements which could possibly be made for the food caterers which would not endanger the public's health. In the past, there have been outbreaks of food poisoning which were traced back to unlicensed food caterers, and the "food accident" mentioned by Mr. Hu should not be allowed to happen, nor should the public be put at risk to such an “accident" by attempting to modify requirements for health and hygiene further. Last month, I accompanied members of the Food and Food Premises Select Committee on a visit to several unlicensed food factories operating in domestic buildings in Central, and, having seen the conditions under which food is prepared and distributed, I am thoroughly convinced of the wisdom of the policy adopted by the Council in 1966 of refusing to license a food factory in a domestic building. In the course of our visit, we noted the absence of wash hand basins and sinks in some premises with no direct tap water available. In one instance,

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