Slump brings reprieve for itinerant hawkers
A plan to phase out itinerant hawkers by 2000 was shelved yesterday because of the economic slump.
The Provisional Urban Council voted down a proposal made five years ago to rescind all itinerant hawker licences by July 2000, fearing the move would create more unemployment.
Half of the 780 itinerant hawkers, who are required to renew their licences every year, are over 60.
Councillor Wong Kwok-hing said hawking had become one of the few ways the old and the unemployed could make a living. 'Can the council honestly say you can provide them protection after taking away their jobs?' he asked.
Association for the Betterment of Licensed Hawkers chairman Leong Kin-shut said he was pleased he could 'go on working as a hawker, as the job feeds my family and gives me a sense of pride'.
The council also amended a Public Health and Municipal Services Department by-law to give magistrates discretionary powers not to confiscate all the property of a hawker convicted of unlicensed selling.
The law change and the repeal of the licensing suspension come after the death of 76-year-old hawker Wong Tai-fuk who set himself alight in court after his property was forfeited.
Urban Councillor Mr Wong said an inquest into the death would be held and pictures would be taken of 251 pieces of forfeited jade jewellery for use as evidence in the Coroner's Court.
