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Steadfastly, let the Council hold on to its vision of a better to- morrow for the community. Indeed, the Council should go all out to help the common man to achieve a just society, without discrimination of any sort and with equality of treatment for all, come what may. After all, from time immemorial, to secure the happiness of the greatest number is the reason for the existence of governments. To negate it here would invite disaster. More might perhaps be achieved by anarchy, then.

Let the people know the Council's story. It is worth telling. For, it is a record of no mean city.

I so move.

DR. THE HON. HENRY H. L. HU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, this year, I would still devote my time on the hawker problem.

Enough has been said about the problems created by hawkers, which embrace congestion, sanitation, health, and fire hazards, obstruc- tion to pedestrian and traffic flow and noise pollution. On the other hand, it is generally accepted that hawkers do serve a useful purpose, not only as a kind of retail outlet but also a buffer against unemploy-

ment.

It is obviously not our intention to stop hawking. The task before us is to make sure that hawking takes place in the right manner and in the right place. And to achieve this, we shall require more land for bazaars and markets, and enforcement agents on the ground.

In the first place, we need to have sufficient off-street hawker bazaars and mini-stalls in new markets created to accommodate most, if not all, existing on-street hawkers, and these bazaars and markets must be placed with good business prospects. In a place where land is at a premium, it is wishful thinking that land at specific locations would come by easily, particularly in view of the heavy demand for choice sites for other 'more important' project. The Government has been asked to take note of, and cater for, this requirement of land.

It is equally essential for us to have enforcement agents in sufficient numbers to cover all hawker concentration areas and to keep new hawkers away from occupying the space vacated by those hawkers who have moved to bazaars and markets. This should help to abate the increase in hawker population and, at the same time, reduce the hawker nuisance to an acceptable level. I am glad to say that active considera- tion is now being given by the Council to increase the number of

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General Duties Teams, and some improvement to the hawker situation can be expected in the not too distant future.

This takes us to the problem of unlicensed hawkers. The current Council policy is to reduce the hawker population and not to issue further licences.

I should think that it is only reasonable to give unlicensed hawkers a legitimate status when we have adequate enforce- ment presence on the ground and when some progress has been achieved in the provision of off-street hawker bazaars and mini-stalls in new markets. Obviously, we are not to encourage young persons to take up street trading as a career and we may have to impose a much higher minimum age than the current level of 18 years. I would advocate that when the time comes, itinerant licences be issued to those who have established themselves as genuine but unlicensed hawkers without the guarantee that a site would be made available to every one of them.

I should like to make one further point. When the hawker situa- tion is under control, we shall be in a position to remove the legal provision for mandatory confiscation, a controversial subject that has generated much heat at recent Council meetings. I hope we can do this without a long, long wait,

I would conclude by saying that hawking is a long term problem which could only be solved by rising prosperity which offers better alternative employment and by the progressive construction of off-street facilities, coupled with adequate enforcement presence. Given that, I am confident that the interests of hawkers and other residents can be met in a constructive and efficient way.

With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I second the motion.

MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):-Mr. Chairman, in supporting the motion, it is not my intention to make a long speech. I think that I can fairly say, as Chairman of the Finance Select Committee, that our finances are in order and we should balance our budget for the coming year on our present estimated income from all sources. That does not mean, however, that we should be content. The difference between balancing our budget and making a considerable loss is very narrow. We should do more to increase our revenue from other sources, especially the licence fees, to a more realistic level.

I do not like the almost complete ban on a new fixed pitch, especially cooked food stall licences. We are sometimes even giving up cooked food stall sites where successions have not been granted. The