1975 — Page 137

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there were not enough hawker sites to accommodate all. Naturally, the hawkers have to contend among themselves for a site.

The forcible occupation of sites by the vicious groups and the scramble for sites among the hawkers account for the chaotic and unstable situation of the community. Furthermore, traffic and clean- liness would also be affected. Even the owners of the shops and fac- tories in the area complain because the presence of hawkers hinders the loading and unloading of their goods and blocks the access to their shops.

This was the situation at the initial stage of the setting up of the hawker permitted areas. Without any loss of time, the Council then explored ways and means to rectify the situation which resulted in more hawker permitted areas being set up. The staff of the Urban Services Department had also done their utmost in advising and con- trolling the hawkers. Nevertheless, it is a pity that for the first half of last year, the number of hawkers continued to increase as industry and commerce in Hong Kong were still under economic depression. In the fact of the large number of hawkers, the Urban Council had to revise its original hawker scheme to cope with the situation. Recently, some improvements have been detected in the traffic and sanitary condi- tions. This is the result of exercising greater control on the hawker permitted areas.

At a time when the number of hawkers is increasing, the "first come, first served" policy accords too much freedom to the hawkers and may be exploited by undesirable elements.

We can imagine that if the Urban Council did not take action to remedy the situation, the undesirable elements would take advantage of the shortage of sites, and the hawkers' desire to scramble for better sites, to blackmail the hawkers. This is certainly something we did not want to see.

Of course, it is a good sign if the hawkers would band together and exercise self-discipline. Yet before they exercise any form of self- discipline, I would like to call on them to seek the approval of the Urban Services Department for doing so. In this way, food order will be maintained and it will be easier for them to discipline themselves.

This means that the Urban Council should under no circumstances stand aloof. It should mete out various forms of control commensurate with different situations.

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In a hawker permitted area, some hawkers are licensed while some are not. Some may have been in the trade for a long time, while some have joined this trade only recently. So if we apply the "first come, first served" principle to all the hawkers, it would be unfair to some of them.

In the past, hawker licences were issued on welfare grounds. This policy should be revised.

At present, hawking has become a kind of important trade as there are more than 30,000 licensed hawkers and the number of unlicensed hawkers is estimated to be well over 50,000 to 60,000.

If the unlicensed hawkers are allowed to carry on their business, it is certainly unfair to the licensed ones. Furthermore, the existence of unlicensed hawkers may give rise to corrupt practices.

For this reason, I am of the opinion that all hawkers should be licensed. We should find a way to differentiate between those who tem- porarily switch to the hawking trade because of unemployment and those who have been hawking for a long time.

The licence fees for temporary hawkers should be kept as low as possible in order to enable them to tide over this difficult time. How- ever, steps should be taken to gradually reduce their number when the economic situation improves with a view to channelling them back to the industrial and commercial circles. We should systematically imple- ment a plan to help hawkers take up alternative employment or resume their original work in order to increase the labour force for production.

In view of the large number of existing itinerant hawkers, it is necessary to provide more hawker bazaars to accommodate them. Con- sideration should therefore be given to making use of the open spaces near the urban areas and the open car parks at night as hawking areas for the itinerant hawkers.

Hawking bazaars should be provided not only in the urban areas but also in public housing estates. I learnt that in certain housing estates, the prices of foodstuff for daily consumption are by no means low. If itinerant hawkers are allowed to trade in the estates, the residents there will be able to purchase commodities at a lower price. Choi Hung Estate is one of the examples.

In planning future public housing projects, consideration should be given to earmarking space for the hawkers. This will benefit not only the hawkers but also the local residents.