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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

genuine effort to reappraise operational costs and, as a corollary, to relate gradually fees and charges to costs of service. But, such a measure has not

been implemented in every instance. For, when the picture is unveiled, all want to look at its squarely. The community doubtless expects that the Council would function in a manner fair to all sides, without imposing expediently an undue burden on the ratepayer as a sop to a vocal section. In Hong Kong's way of thinking, all able-bodied citizens are expected to pay for what they get and use. Where a sectional service is subsidized, i should be done openly for a tenable purpose. Repeated simply, it should be seen that whatever the Council does is in effect done only for the public good and, by doing so all the time, it would avoid creating the impression

of ducking responsibility and ignoring the realities of life here.

The Council must surely remember that, as it has discovered since it assumed full financial responsibility, the authorities were previously manag ing most activities without strict regard for the cost implications of such operations as there was plenty of money in the till. This is not so now. On the contrary, the Council has to make ends meet. It may be easy enough to do so now but it may not be the case in the long run as expenditure risks rising more steeply than revenue.

In any event, the Council has now set up its committees. They should be active and positive, responsive and knowledgeable. And, given goodwill, there can always be found an honest and intelligent consensus to the advantage of their work. Without competent and far-sighted management, progress would lag behind public expectations. While, assuredly, nothing should stop or even slow down the Council's onward march towards making Hong Kong a better city for the common man. Success in this direction depends on the ability of the Council to think and act as a team with only one object in view: giving good service to the community. Let the Council then plan the future together for this purpose. Indeed, the Council must plan in earnest; or else, it will flounder, to be sure.

Paper

(Mr Bernacchi arrived during the delivery of this Statement),

The following paper was laid on the table:-Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of March, 1978.

Questions

1 MR JOHN MACKENZIE asked the following question (in English): -Has there been any increase in the number of public complaints regarding rodent infestation in the Urban areas, and is the Council satisfied with the existing

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measures of rodent control? What is the current organization of the pest control unit, and is this sufficient to cope with the existing problem and

community expectations?

What measures are being taken to allay public anxiety regarding rodent infestation and continuing expansion of the rat population?

MRS GRACE HO, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COM- MITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-Complaints about rodent infestation in the urban areas during the last three years numbered 3,522 in 1975, 3,668 in 1976 and 3,888 in 1977. The annual increases, equivalent to 4.1% and 6%, may be due to a variety of factors such as improved facilities for the making of complaints and an increasing tendency to make use of them. Complaints received during 1977 varied between a minimum of 210 in February, which, besides being the shortest month, covered the Lunar New Year holidays, and a maximum of 570 in October. The monthly average was 324. The October figure was mainly due to an increase in complaints in the Wan Chai District which were solicited during a 10-day ‘Keep Your Environ- ment Clean' Campaign held in that District. The figures for complaints during 1978 so far are 320 in January, 247 in February and 283 in March. These figures suggest that there has been no significant increase in the number of complaints during recent years.

As to whether the Council is satisfied with existing measures of rodent control, I suggest that we must all recognize, firstly, that the degree and extent of infestation at any time depend on the amount of food and har- bourage available to rats and, secondly, that so long as food and harbourage exists, no amount of effort by way of direct control measures (for example, the use of poison and traps) will ever have anything more than a transitory effect on the problem. The situation in Hong Kong is that food and shelter are freely available to rodents in all parts of the urban areas, and it would be wrong for the Council to feel any satisfaction with this situation. On the contrary, it is essential that the Urban Council and the general public do everything in their power to eliminate the conditions under which rats can thrive.

Each of the 10 Urban Services Districts in Hong Kong and Kowloon has its own Rodent Control Unit engaged solely on that work. These units are staffed by 8 Senior Foremen, 42 Foremen and 132 Pest Control Labourers. The day-to-day work of the Units is supervised by 10 Pest Control Inspectors and 7 Overseers. All the staff are under the general direction of a Senior Health Inspector in each of the Regional Headquarters in Hong Kong and Kowloon. Specific control measures include regular surveys of blocks of buildings, surveillance of water-front godowns and warehouses, planning of rodent control programmes, rat poisoning and trapping and action on all complaints. I must repeat that, by themselves these measures cannot be effective and that it is up to every member of the community to assist by depriving the rat population of food and harbourage.