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ment conducted by the City Hall staff. Moreover, because, at the insistence of the Urban Council, all seats are pegged at low prices, a nominal sum of $1,000 is allocated for each concert to help to meet any operational deficit. In addition, a monthly fee of $1,000 is paid to the Orchestra for the specific purpose of retaining the service of the musical director of the Orchestra under whose direction it has made such significant strides forward in standards. The City Hall also provides a regular place for the Orchestra to hold rehearsals. I know that Members would like to help the Philharmonic even more and Mr. Lo's Select Committee will no doubt exercise its mind on how best this might be done in the context of the Council's budget for next year.

Mr. Kenneth Lo and Mr. CHEONG-LEEN referred to the International Arts Festival 1973 and called for the fullest possible support for this exciting project. I am glad to endorse this plea which I am sure is also shared by other Members of the Council. We shall all be delighted if this International Festival proves the success it deserves to be, because the community will have been given the opportunity to see and hear some of the finest performers in their fields in the world. Certainly, members of the department are offering full co-operation to the organizers of this Festival and this has been gratefully acknowledged by the organizers. Members of the Cultural Affairs Select Committee are enthusiastic in their support and, through their interest, some local participation is being organized in this Festival along the lines of a joint presentation by the Urban Council and the Festival Society.

Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's suggestion that the Urban Council might promote the arts by making biennial awards covering categories such as music, drama, dancing, painting, calligraphy, sculpture and photo- graphy is an interesting one, and I shall arrange for it to be referred to the Cultural Affairs Select Committee for further consideration.

The hawker problem has again, quite rightly, featured in this debate. While sharing the anxiety about the present position, I am hopeful that, in the very near future, I shall be able to put before Members of the Hawkers Select Committee realistic proposals for firmly grasping this nettle. These proposals will supplement those already accepted by Government for the provision of sites for markets and hawker bazaars, for which I continue to press.

Siting hawkers off-streeet as we now know is unfortunately to be a long-term and slow process, not because Government does not rec- ognize the need for priority, but because many of the sites, even when earmarked for our purpose, are frequently part of some re- development scheme and therefore not immediately available. And,

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in many instances, also there is just no suitable site available at all especially in some of the most popular old built-up hawker areas. But I can assure Members that the allocation of sites for markets and hawker bazaars features prominently in the Public Works Department's outline development plans. I see little hope of Mr. P. F. CHAN'S suggestion being pursued that Government or the Council rent normal business premises for use by Cooked Food Stall operators-particularly as he proposes that these premises should necessarily be found as near to the original stall sites as possible--and also be on the ground floor. If that stage has been reached, then I feel it is time for the Cooked Food Stall operators to rent premises themselves, for of all the hawkers, many of these are the most affluent.

I feel obliged also to comment in response to Councillors' remarks about the new hawker legislation. Undoubtedly, the provisions are tough, but they are, I feel, essential if the Council means business-- as it has declared it does—in its attempts to bring the hawker problem We must seek to reduce the number of hawkers and under control. eliminate unlicensed hawking; this is not only in the public interest but in the interest of licensed hawkers who deserve protection. Mrs. ELLIOTT has, in fact, made the point more than once that we sometimes appear to be assisting the unlicensed hawkers rather than those who are licensed. In any event, elderly or infirm persons should not have to struggle for a living as unlicensed hawkers-or even as licensed hawkers, usually existing on the pittance obtained through subletting, but should be able to obtain assistance from the Social Welfare Depart- ment to meet their needs. Young, able-bodied unlicensed hawkers must be made to find alternative employment. I am fully aware that opportunities exist for the powers under the legislation to be abused; through better supervision and streamlining of procedures and systems, my staff will do its best to ensure that these cases do not arise or are at least reduced to a minimum.

With regard to markets, prospects for our expansion programme are quite bright thanks to Mr. LOBO and his Select Committee, who have succeeded also in focusing attention on and getting action to improve the unsatisfactory management of existing markets. The current Public Works Programme lists 22 items for the construction of Since 1970, six market new markets or the reprovisioning of old ones. projects have been completed and two more are under construction. The rate of progress is expected to accelerate sharply now that a special inter-departmental co-ordinating committee has been set up to ensure the speedy planning of multi-purpose Government buildings with marketing facilities on the lower floors. And, over the past three years, we have succeeded in bringing a number of additional market items into the Public Works Programme so that when the whole programme is completed, the Council's marketing facilities will be on a much

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