1976 — Page 19

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B.

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

(ii) If the answer is yes, can it be explained why the same hawkers occupy the same sites every day in Tung Choi Street?

(iii) What is being done about repeated complaints that some genuine hawkers who have traded in the street for many years are now not allowed to choose their sites on a first come first served basis?

(i) Is it correct that in "Hawker Permitted Areas", each

hawker is supposed to occupy one site only?

(ii) If the answer is positive, can it be explained why some hawkers occupy up to eight sites in Tung Choi Street?

C. How much is it costing in money and manpower to control the operation at Tung Choi Street at the commencement, during, and after the hawking hours? Does their duty include making sure that all have equal chances? Does it include preventing hawkers occupying designated sites, and more than one site each?

D. Did the Whole Council vote in favour or against the

continuation of "Hawker Permitted Areas"?

DR. HENRY H. L. HU, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKERS SELECT COM- MITTEE, replied as follows:

Mr. Chairman, I thank Mrs. ELLIOTT for raising this question.

My answer to her question is as follows:

A.

(i) In Hawker Permitted Areas, except for licensed fixed pitch hawkers who were in situ before the establishment of the HPA's, the Council does not allocate sites to hawkers, licensed or un- licensed. A hawker may therefore enter and trade, on a first come first served basis and dur- ing business hours, on any site except the pave- ment and the central carriageway which are reserved for pedestrian and vehicular traffic respectively.

(ii) As I've explained above, with very few excep- tions, hawkers in HPA's are not entitled to fixed sites. The Urban Council is not legally em- powered to force hawkers in HPA's to occupy different sites every day. Nor would it be desir-

B.

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

7

able to seek such powers. I can offer no firm explanation why the same hawkers occupy the same sites every day in Tung Choi Street, any more than can say why the same commuters occupy the same seats on a bus every day. Presumably custom and mutual arrangement play a large part.

(iii) The Urban Services Department has had no complaints. If the suggestion is that hawkers are being intimidated, the matter should be reported to the Police.

(i) This is the hope, but the intention in HPA's was to impose minimum control, restricted to en- forcement of essential hygiene standards, operat- ing hours, and access for vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Sites are not allocated, and there is no enforcement of "one hawker, one site".

(ii) Assuming Mrs. ELLIOTT's statement that some hawkers occupy up to 8 sites in Tung Choi Street is correct, surely the answer is only too obvious. The hawkers concerned, like many others, are expanding their business.

C. One Overseer, 5 Foremen and 40 Labourers are de- ployed daily in Tung Choi Street and its immediate environs from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight, and the total daily expenditure amounts to $3,237 inclusive of salaries and transport costs. Their duties are:

(i) to ensure that the Hawker Permitted Area is clear of hawkers and their paraphernalia after gazetted business hours;

(ii) to sweep and cleanse the Area thoroughly; (iii) to maintain a clear central vehicular access in the

Area;

(iv) to keep the pavements free from obstructions;

(v) to keep the "cordon sanitaire" clear of hawkers;

and

(vi) to ensure that no food-for-man or cooked food

is sold in the Area.

D. The Standing Committee of the Whole Council has decided to maintain the status quo for the time being.