ENG-1978 — Page 127

HEALTH

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lairage for 4,000 pigs at the Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir was completed in September, bringing the pig lairage capacity to 14,000.

There are two licensed private slaughterhouses at Yuen Long and Tai Po in the New Territories, where health inspectors of the Urban Services Department supervise activities.

Services in the New Territories

The Urban Council Ordinance limits the functions and responsibilities of the Urban Council to the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. In the New Ter- ritories, excluding New Kowloon, these functions are the responsibility of the Director of Urban Services and are discharged by staff of the New Territories Region of the Urban Services Department.

The Urban Services Department is responsible for the maintenance of adequate standards of public health and the administration of such services as cemeteries and crematoria, cleansing and pest control, hawkers, the management of public markets and the provision of recreational and cultural amenities.

With the rapid development of the New Territories, a large number of additional posts have been created within the Urban Services Department for the expansion of cleansing services, library facilities, hawker management, and for the manning of new projects.

Additional staff were also provided for the establishment of regional offices at Kwai Chung, Tuen Mun and Sha Tin. In the past, departmental services for these areas operated from Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long and Tai Po Urban Services offices.

During the year, 11 capital projects were completed. These projects covered a wide range of services including markets, cooked food bazaars, playgrounds, gardens, swimming pools, beach buildings and refuse collection points.

On the operational side, efforts were directed towards the raising of standards of hygiene and improving recreational services. An extensive exercise was carried out to tidy up and strengthen control of licensed premises. In the area of cleansing, emphasis was placed on the clearance of polluted streams, choked nullahs, and the maintenance of popular picnic areas and gazetted beaches which attract many visitors at weekends and on public holidays!!

Cemeteries and Crematoria

The Urban Council provides inexpensive and, if necessary, free funeral facilities in the urban areas. In June, a new public funeral hall came into operation at Hung Hom. The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals also provides non-profit-making funeral

services.

The officially-encouraged trend towards cremation instead of burial continues, and the ratio of cremations to burials in 1978 was 44:56. A new crematorium at Kwai Chung is expected to come into service in mid-1979, and a replacement for the existing Diamond Hill Crematorium in Kowloon is due for completion ahead of schedule in early 1979. The urban areas have five public cemeteries, two public crematoria and 19 private cemeteries, and the New Territories have five public cemeteries, one public crematorium and eight private cemeteries.