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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

and balanced decision is reached which must be beneficial to the general public.

Mr Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion.

MR SHUM CHOI-SANG (in English):-Mr Chairman, the hawker problem is still widely debated in Hong Kong in 1978. But people's attitude towards this problem seems to have slightly changed.

In the Urban Council, the basic idea of reducing the number of hawkers on the street is unchanged. Several new issues have been popped up and all are under examination.

The more important decisions that have been made or issues under study are:

(1) The hawker problem will be disassociated from social welfare and

hawking is treated as a type of small-scale business;

(2) How to deal with those illegal hawkers who have been hawking for a

long time, particularly those in the Hawkers Permitted Areas; (3) How to minimize the adverse effect created by hawkers on traffic, city cleansing and nuisance to the shops nearby and to the general public; (4) How to control them and work out a more disciplinary arrangement; and (5) What is our final aim or ideal way to solve the hawkers problem?

After the expansion of the Social Welfare Department which takes the responsibility to grant public assistance to needy families and takes care of the disabled persons, the Urban Council made a very important decision last year not to issue any more hawker licences on compassionate grounds.

This means that priority will not be given to disabled person or a member of a needy family in getting hawker licences, and instead they will be treated as any other able-bodied when issue of hawker licences to them are con- sidered.

Some people may say that we should give more thought to those in urgent need. I would like to make it clear that, as far as I understand, the Urban Council has no intention to deprive the privilege of the disabled persons when they apply for hawker licences, but they will not be given special consideration as before because, as stated above, the Social Welfare Depart- ment is now the proper agency to take care of them. In 1978, the Social Welfare Department has not recommended any case in regard to a disabled person or a needy family to get a hawker licence. Consequently, no new hawker licence has since been issued on compassionate grounds.

Now, hawking is regarded as a business and it has been disassociated from social welfare. Because of this new concept, the Urban Council gives a new name to the Hawkers Select Committee as the Street Traders Select Com- mittee.

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

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Though the licensed hawkers have obtained a legitimate status, there are still many unlicensed hawkers. Some estimate that the number of unlicensed hawkers are as many as licensed hawkers in the Urban area. That is about 30,000. Some say that there are more unlicensed hawkers than licensed hawkers. Some people in the Urban Services Department guess that there are a little more than 10,000 unlicensed hawkers.

As there is no proper survey on unlicensed hawkers since 1970, we simply do not know the exact magnitude of the problem. But it does create a lot of nuisance to the residents and shopowners in the neighbourhood. The traffic Department and the Fire Services Department have always com- plained about the obstruction of hawkers.

Many hawkers are not considerate of others. They occupy almost the whole width of the pavement. Some even put up their stalls in the middle of the road, or at junctions of busy roads. They occupy the prime position of the road in order to get more and better business. But they forget the traffic congestion, the business of the shopowners and the daily city cleansing exercise.

In order to control the hawkers, licensed and unlicensed, it is suggested that provisional licences be issued to long established unlicensed hawkers in Hawkers Permitted Areas; if it is workable, then in other densely located hawker areas.

The main reasons against issuing provisional licences are:

(1) It is against the present policy to seek a gradual reduction in the

number of hawkers as circumstances permits;

(2) It gives more headaches to the Authority when considering to get hawkers

off the streets into bazaars and markets; and

(3) It will encourage more able-bodied young persons to seek hawking as a means of earning a living instead of joining the factories which are badly in need of hands and which are very important for the survival of Hong Kong as a whole.

Those in favour of issuing provisional licences argue that:

(1) Whether we have provisional licences or not, unlicensed hawkers will

be still in existence for some time.

(2) If it is made clear that a provisional licence is different from an ordinary licence, it only gives the hawkers a temporary legitimate status. They therefore are encouraged to look for other jobs, as the question of provisional licence will be reviewed every year. The provisional licences will be only issued to those with long hawking experience in the area. For the new-comers, they should be referred to the Labour Department for job opportunities which means provisional licences may not be issued to them.

(3) To issue provisional licences will help to give a clearer picture of the number of unlicensed hawkers and the location of their operations.

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