ENG-1968 — Page 177

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HEALTH

public retail markets (42 in the urban areas and 23 in the New Territories) where housewives can buy meat, fish, poultry and vegetables. Many of these markets are old and out-moded, making it difficult to maintain acceptable standards of hygiene. The Urban Council aims to reconstruct many of the older ones and to provide new ones, particularly in developing areas, and the Department devoted much time to the planning of new projects during the year when one new market was opened, adjoining Yue Man Square in Kwun Tong.

Hawking provides a livelihood for an estimated 80,000 people in the built-up areas of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Terri- tories. The great majority of these hawkers sell vegetables and other foodstuffs in streets near markets and shops selling meat, fish and poultry. Other hawkers sell haberdashery and hardware. Although they meet a public demand, hawkers obstruct streets which are already congested, hinder public cleansing work and create a health problem. The policy of the Urban Council is to concentrate them in off-street bazaars where possible or in minor streets where they can carry on their business with the minimum of inconvenience to other sections of the community.

The enforcement of the regulations governing hawkers is carried out by the Hawker Control Force, established in 1960 to relieve the Police of this responsibility. The Force has an establishment of 514 officers and men who operate so far in only 31 designated parts of the urban areas. The Force is expanding gradually but in many districts, particularly of Kowloon, the Police remain still the sole authority for control.

The Urban Services Department operates two public slaughter- houses, one on Hong Kong Island and one in Kowloon. In October, a newly constructed abattoir of modern design became fully operational and replaced the obsolete building previously in use at Kennedy Town (on the Island). In Kowloon, the old slaughter- house at Ma Tau Kok will be replaced early in 1969 by a similar new building at Cheung Sha Wan.

The disposal of the dead is the responsibility of the Urban Council in the urban areas and of the Urban Services Department in the New Territories.