1975 — Page 95

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The H.P.A. Scheme has not been an unqualified success and is still demanding a high level of manpower to maintain a satisfactory situation. However, things do appear to be settling down and perhaps this level of manpower can be lowered in the not too distant future without any deterioration of the trading conditions or the local environment.

In November, last year, Mr. Chairman, based on the experience gained in the H.P.A. Scheme, the Select Committee debated what the future policy should be in respect of the areas concerned. It was decided that

(a) a series of surveys of the major hawker areas in Hong Kong and Kowloon should be carried out to identify unlicensed hawkers trading regularly and

(b) an effective enforcement presence should be set up in Kowloon to enforce hawker legislation and, in particular, to take action against food-for-man-hawkers.

If the results of the surveys show that there are too many hawkers to be accommodated in H.P.A.s in an orderly fashion, a decision will have to be taken sooner or later to look for more hawking spaces. Depending on the outcome of this decision, new itinerant hawker licences may be offered to the genuine, unlicensed hawkers identified in the survey and firm action taken thereafter against all unlicensed hawkers.

The increase of licence fees, of course, was another big issue faced up to by the Select Committee in 1975. The levels of the increased fees were fixed following a comprehensive costing exercise of the management and control costs. The increases were so arranged that the "little man" paid the least and the man who could afford it, i.e. the cooked food stall operator, paid the most. As expected, protests about the increased fees, which were gazetted on 19th December last year, have been, and are continuing to be, received but the increases are modest in terms of dollars and cents (less than 10 cents

day for an itinerant hawker). Those hawkers who have renewed their licences since the 19th December have done so with good grace. Incidentally, not all the fees were increased. 706 General Purpose stallholders with pitches in excess of 12 square feet but less than 18 square feet and 43 G.P. tradesmen will find that their fees are reduced when they come to renew their licence.

Looking at the record of the year's activities, I never cease to marvel at the number of subjects, the Select Committee manages to cover, but cooked food stalls and/or the sales of food-for-man feature prominently in most of the minutes. The former are often lucrative

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

enterprises and their owners are naturally reluctant to move away from a good site. However, some of them have had to do so during the year because of work concerned with or arising indirectly from the M.T.R.

Government proposed that instead of resiting cooked food stalls, cash compensation should be paid and one-sixth of the cost borne by the Council. Despite lengthy argumentation from Govern- ment to support their proposal, neither the Select Committee nor the Standing Committee of the Whole Council could agree to such on open ended commitment not of the Council's making. Fortunately, to date, it has been possible to resite all the affected cooked food stalls, but of course this state of affairs may not always persist. On a rather different aspect, the U.S.D. has agreed to delineate cooked food stall sites. These will be 135 square feet and, therefore, some of those stallholders who have spread over a considerably greater area, than this, will have to reduce their business activities. Cooked food stalls in Housing Estates will soon be licensed but will not be charged a pitch fee. Illegal sales of food-for-man continue to give cause for concern. There are undoubted hygiene risks in selling food and drinks which have been prepared in places not inspected by the Health Inspectorate but only a very strong enforcement presence will prevent the widespread sale of food-for-man. At the moment we do not have the means to enforce the law as rigidly as we would wish and the sale of food for man is a perennial problem.

During the year, it was also decided to revise the succession criteria for fixed pitch stalls and to license wall stalls. The organization of General Duties Teams was discussed, the policy on water supplies in hawker bazaars confirmed, the arrangements for the 1976 Lunar New Year Fairs approved and the Hawker Sub-Committee's decisions on, a number of individual cases confirmed.

During the year in review, there is however one point which has always haunted me and that is the question of Mandatory Con- fiscation. I am not in favour of mandatory confiscation of hawking goods and equipment because this will cause unnecessary hardship for the genuine hawkers and lacks practical value. The Mandatory Con- fiscation can be carried out by the combined application of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance Section 86A(1) and Hawker By-law 58, which reads as follows:-

"The offences specially designated for the purposes of the applica- tion of section 86A(1)(a) of the Ordinance are those involving a contravention of by-laws 5, 22, 36 and 48."

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