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Also, it has requested details of any rip-offs involving other licensed premises on either side of the harbour, and a close watch is being made to see whether there are other offenders joining in the rip-off game.
In case the operators of these establishments missed the Board's recent public warning, let me repeat that any conviction under the relevant regulations relating to the Board's powers may lead to the termination of the licence of the premises concerned.
I may add that the actions of these unscrupulous operators have done much to besmirch the reputation of Hong Kong as a tourist attraction, since the Board now has information that reports have been printed in many overseas newspapers warning would-be tourists about the possibility of being grossly over-charged and, further, facing intimidation and threats if they patronise these bars.
Thus the fine name of Hong Kong has been dragged in the mud of international publicity thanks to the greed and unscrupulousness of a few selfish people.
I say again we know who you are... we are watching you closely, with the help of the Consumer Council and the Police, and we will not stand idly by and allow you to continue fleecing unsuspecting tourists.
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN OF THE ENTERTAINMENT SELECT COMMITTEE
MR. STEPHEN M. L. LAU (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, as part of the Urban Council's widespread programme of free entertainment for the people of Hong Kong, it is our pleasure every year to stage special functions to commemorate the most cherished of the traditional Chinese Festivals, thereby providing colourful events for the enjoyment of young and old while perpetuating customs going back hundreds if not thousands of years.
This brings me to the Mid-Autumn Festivals which the Council arranged two weekends ago to be held at Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island and Ko Shan Park in Kowloon. The weather wasn't kind to us, as we know, nevertheless the Festivals went ahead on schedule and were still enjoyed by tens of thousands of people.
What wasn't enjoyable, however, was the huge amount of litter left behind by visitors to the two parks, in particular Victoria Park, which ended up looking like a rubbish dump.
I speak not only for the Urban Council but the average civic-minded resident of Hong Kong when I say that this disgusting mess was a blot on the community—a community which has been subjected for so many years to the gentle persuasions of various Clean Hong Kong campaigns, plus the generally gentle fines of the Litter Courts.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
It would seem that a small but selfish group of parents let their children behave exactly as they wished, throwing rubbish around the park willy-nilly without a thought of civic pride—and without a thought of parental responsibility and the need to set a good example.
Also, it seems inescapable that parents themselves also turned into litterbugs for the Festival, leading the way in a disgraceful litter-fest.
To cope with the mess at Victoria Park, the Department had to mobilize no fewer than 24 extra cleansing staff, taking the total number on clean-up work there to 39 workers. These people had to work from seven o'clock in the morning until six that night to gather up and take away a total of 720 large bags of rubbish and only after that immense effort did Victoria Park emerge from its shroud of papers, wrappers, stickers, cigarette packets and so on and again become the beautiful green oasis that it should be all the time.
At Ko Shan Park the story was by no means so bad; nevertheless, 60 bags of litter had to be gathered compared with the usual daily collection of 20 baskets, so I am sorry to say that Lap Sap Chung was alive and well on both sides of the harbour during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In view of all this the Council must make it clear that in future, while the emphasis will remain on enjoyment for all in similar Festivals, we will also have to look at the case for assigning a task force of litter wardens to the parks, their summonses at the ready, to prevent a repeat of such anti-social behaviour.
The Council's aim in staging these Festivals is to provide good, clean fun for the family—and I emphasise the word clean—but not to turn our parks into the rubbish-strewn messes that we found to our disgust two fortnights ago.
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE
MR. HOWARD H. W. YOUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, as Chairman of the Recreation Select Committee, I would like to make a statement on an incident that the media and the general public were quite concerned with earlier this summer. On the 20 July this year severe oil pollution occurred at Deep Water Bay Beach, Repulse Bay Beach and Turtle Cove Beach. The Urban Council, in conjunction with the Government, immediately took steps to clean up this pollution which took some seven days. The costs of the work undertaken by the Council was in the region of $3 million.
It is alleged that this pollution was caused by leakage of oil from the Brazilian registered cargo ship 'Frota Durban' which had run aground on Ngan Chau (Round Island) in the East Lamma Channel.
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Also, it has requested details of any rip-offs involving other licensed premises on either side of the harbour, and a close watch is being made to see whether there are other offenders joining in the rip-off game.
In case the operators of these establishments missed the Board's recent public warning, let me repeat that any conviction under the relevant regulations relating to the Board's powers may lead to the termination of the licence of the premises concerned.
I may add that the actions of these unscrupulous operators have done much to besmirch the reputation of Hong Kong as a tourist attraction, since the Board now has information that reports have been printed in many overseas newspapers warning would-be tourists about the possibility of being grossly over-charged and, further, facing intimidation and threats if they patronise
these bars.
Thus the fine name of Hong Kong has been dragged in the mud of international publicity thanks to the greed and unscrupulousness of a few selfish people.
I say again we know who you are. . . we are watching you closely, with the help of the Consumer Council and the Police, and we will not stand idly by and allow you to continue fleecing unsuspecting tourists.
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN OF THE ENTERTAINMENT SELECT COMMITTEE
MR. STEPHEN M. L. LAU (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, as part of the Urban Council's widespread programme of free entertainment for the people of Hong Kong, it is our pleasure every year to stage special functions to commemorate the most cherished of the traditional Chinese Festivals, thereby providing colourful events for the enjoyment of young and old while perpetuating customs going back hundreds if not thousands of years.
This brings me to the Mid-Autumn Festivals which the Council arranged two weekends ago to be held at Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island and Ko Shan Park in Kowloon. The weather wasn't kind to us, as we know, nevertheless the Festivals went ahead on schedule and were still enjoyed by tens of thousands of people.
What wasn't enjoyable, however, was the huge amount of litter left behind by visitors to the two parks, in particular Victoria Park, which ended up looking like a rubbish dump.
I speak not only for the Urban Council but the average civic-minded resident of Hong Kong when I say that this disgusting mess was a blot on the community-a community which has been subjected for so many years to the gentle persuasions of various Clean Hong Kong campaigns, plus the generally gentle fines of the Litter Courts.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
It would seem that a small but selfish group of parents let their children behave exactly as they wished, throwing rubbish around the park willy nilly without a thought of civic pride-and without a thought of parental responsibility and the need to set a good example.
Also, it seems inescapable that parents themselves also turned into litterbugs for the Festival, leading the way in a disgraceful litter-fest.
To cope with the mess at Victoria Park, the Department had to mobilize no fewer than 24 extra cleansing staff, taking the total number on clean-up work there to 39 workers. These people had to work from seven o'clock in the morning until six that night to gather up and take away a total of 720 large bags of rubbish and only after that immense effort did Victoria Park emerge from its shroud of papers, wrappers, stickers, cigarette packets and so on and again become the beautiful green oasis that it should be all the time.
At Ko Shan Park the story was by no means so bad; nevertheless 60 bags of litter had to be gathered compared with the usual daily collection of 20 baskets, so I am sorry to say that Lap Sap Chung was alive and well on both sides of the harbour during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In view of all this the Council must make it clear that in future, while the emphasis will remain on enjoyment for all in similar Festivals, we will also have to look at the case for assigning a task force of litter wardens to the parks, their summonses at the ready, to prevent a repeat of such anti-social behaviour.
The Council's aim in staging these Festivals is to provide good, clean fun for the family—and I emphasise the word clean—but not to turn our parks into the rubbish-strewn messes that we found to our disgust two fortnights ago.
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE
MR. HOWARD H. W. YOUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, as Chairman of the Recreation Select Committee, I would like to make a statement on an incident that the media and the general public were quite concerned with earlier this summer. On the 20 July this year severe oil pollution occurred at Deep Water Bay Beach, Repulse Bay Beach and Turtle Cove Beach. The Urban Council, in conjunction with the Government, immediately took steps to clean up this pollution which took some seven days. The costs of the work undertaken by the Council was in the region of $3 million.
It is alleged that this pollution was caused by leakage of oil from the Brazilian registered cargo ship 'Frota Durban' which had run aground on Ngan Chau (Round Island) in the East Lamma Channel.
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