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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
I find this against the objective of the Council in providing facilities for normal activities. Having heard the reply from the Chairman of the Select Committee, I find that we are interfering and prohibiting any form of wax burning. We don't even tolerate wax burning on a small scale. How should we look at this matter? This is my first question.
For the second question, may I ask if burning candles is to be tolerated in your view? If I put twelve candles together and light them up, it will not amount to wax burning. But will you stop me? This is a practical question that has yet to be resolved.
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU (in Cantonese): Actually, this new legislation was passed in response to the voices of various levels of our society. Wax burning, particularly during the Mid-Autumn Festival, caused injury to children. And some children got seriously burned.
Mr. Wong is himself a lawyer. I am afraid I cannot answer his question fully because he knows where the leeway lies. I am not drawing a conclusion on whether bundling 12 candles together amounts to wax burning. However, I believe staff of the Department will consider cases on their individual merits.
Mr. Lam Man-Fat (in Cantonese): I watched people burning wax when I was growing up. I saw that some people spilt water/ aerated water on hot wax and got injured by the hot wax that popped up. One does not get burnt when 12 candles are bundled together,
My question is on how we can publicise the new legislation widely. We now have a telephone hotline system, but none for publicity purpose. Have we planned to post hotline numbers within our venues? The Mid-Autumn Festival is drawing near. Can we publicise the telephone hotline in time for a deterrent effect?
MR. RONNIE Wong Man-chiu (in Cantonese): We have in fact done a lot on publicity. As stated in my reply document, this will be done through short films and tapes for broadcasting. As for publicity through a hotline system, maybe we can raise it at tomorrow's meeting of the Recreation Select Committee and decide to ask the Department to step up efforts. I believe we can spread the message to the public in time for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival.
MR. CHRISTOPHER CHUNG SHU-KUN (in Cantonese): I regret to say that none of my four questions has been satisfactorily answered. In fact, I am not interested in learning from the Chairman of the Select Committee in private on how the legislation is to be enforced. I want to take the opportunity of this meeting to find out how the new legislation is to be enforced so that members of the public will know what to do to obey the law. Will the Chairman of the Select Committee disclose as quickly as possible how patrols are to be carried out, what kind of performance pledges are there and the frequency of patrols? Please don't tell me
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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
I find this against the objective of the Council in providing facilities for normal activities. Having heard the reply from the Chairman of the Select Committee, I find that we are interfering and prohibiting any form of wax burning. We don't even tolerate wax burning on a small scale. How should we look at this matter? This is my first question.
For the second question, may I ask if burning candles is to be tolerated in your view? If I put twelve candles together and light them up, it will not amount to wax burning. But will you stop me? This is a practical question that has yet to be resolved.
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU (in Cantonese): Actually, this new legislation. was passed in response to the voices of various levels of our society. Wax burning, particularly during the Mid-Autumn Festival, caused injury to children. And some children got seriously burni 100.
Mr. Wong is himself a lawyer. I am afraid I cannot answer his question fully because he knows where the leeway tics. I am not drawing a conclusion on whether bundling 12 candles together amounts to wax burning. However. I believe staff of the Department will consider cases on their individual merits.
Mr. Lam Man-Fat (in Cantonese):—I watched people burning wax when I was growing up. I saw that some people spilt waterlaerated water on hot wax and got injured by the hot wax that popped up. One does not get burnt when 12 candles are bundled together,
My question is on how we can publicise the new legislation widely. We now have a telephone hotline system, but none for publicity purpose. Have we planned to post hotline numbers within our venues? The Mid-Autum Festival is drawing near. Can we publicise the telephone hotline in time for a deterrent effect?
MR. RONNIE Wong Man-chiu (in Cantonese):—We have in fact done a lot on publicity. As stated in my reply document, this will be done through short films and tapes for broadcasting. As for publicity through a hotline system, maybe we can raise it at tomorrow's mecting of the Recreation Select Committee and decide to ask the Department to step up efforts. I believe we can spread the message to the public in time for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival.
MR. CHRISTOPHER CHUNG SHU-KUN (in Cantonese):-I regret to say that none of my four questions has been satisfactorily answered. In fact, I am not interested in learning from the Chairman of the Select Committee in private on how the legislation is to be enforced. I want to take the opportunity of this meeting to find out how the new legislation is to be enforced so that members of the public will know what to do to obey the law. Will the Chairman of the Select Committee disclose as quickly as possible how patrols are to be carried out, what kind of performance pledges are there and the frequency of patrols? Please don't tell me
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