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SCMP Reporter

Q Should the bun festival be extended to run all year?

We couldn't believe what we read in your article 'Patrick Ho wants bun scramble held all year to draw tourists'.  This is a case of authorities hijacking a cultural tradition, then distorting  and 'Disney-fying' it for tourist consumption.

To put this in perspective, let's compare the Cheung Chau bun scramble tradition in its original and its distorted forms, as proposed by the secretary for home affairs and enthusiastically endorsed by the Islands district councillor.

Then: it was an annual event of the Cheung Chau community  and part of a greater spiritual festival.

Proposed: it will be a 'sports event' held 'all year round' as a spectacle for tourists.

Then: Cheung Chau villagers climbed a conical structure built of bamboo scaffolding, covered with buns.

Proposed: certified climbers will climb a conical structure built of steel, covered with 'cakes and dolls'.

Then: scrambling for buns carried social and religious significance to the Cheung Chau villagers; the buns were (and still are) the central object of the event.

Proposed: 'scrambling for the buns is just a gimmick' and the buns can be 'replaced with other things'.

Taken out of context, and distorted beyond recognition, it is nothing more than a climbing competition. We are kidding ourselves if we truly believe that this is what tourists want.

Hoyin Lee and Lynne DiStefano, Mid-Levels

Q Do you think graphic warnings on packets will deter smokers?

I believe it would be helpful if your readers were given a complete picture of Philip Morris' view on this issue, as opposed to the partial position highlighted in your story.

When it comes to health warnings, we believe all cigarette packages should contain a clear and conspicuous warning, and we defer to the government on the content of the warnings. If the government wants graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, we will not oppose this.

We do believe, however, that such warnings can both effectively communicate the risks of smoking and allow adult smokers to continue to differentiate between brands.

We at Philip Morris welcome strong and effective regulation of the tobacco industry. We view the ordinance process as an excellent opportunity for all concerned parties to work together on a comprehensive approach that will ensure consumers are well informed about the risks of smoking; protect the rights of non-smokers; and enact better measures to keep cigarettes away from children.

We look forward to continuing to play an active role in this important process.

Andrew White, vice-president (corporate affairs), Philip Morris Asia

Q Should an independent inquiry be set up on the tile problem?

In the May 10 Talkback, Christopher C. Stanley  parrots last week's comments -  from the City front page -  by the Housing Authority's female talking head, on the subject of tiles falling off the walls of the authority's housing blocks.

Mr Stanley, at some length, disparagingly and condescendingly places the blame on the failure of design engineers to understand the problems of concrete drying and shrinkage  causing tiles to fall off  because the engineers failed to install movement joints.

This echoes the Housing Authority position that few people understand the problem,  which was 'a simple design fault'.

I am no engineer, but I suggest that all first-year structural/civil engineering students have already studied the so-called simple problem of concrete shrinkage and its  destructive effect on buildings.

I do have many years' experience of  supervising construction sites,  and have dealt extensively with buildings and their tiled finishes. I assure Mr Stanley and the Housing Authority that with or without movement joints, the fundamental reason for falling tiles is the simple one of debonding of the tile from  a poorly prepared sub-strata, which is usually a concrete wall.

The blame rests squarely on poor contractors, poor workmanship and poor materials - that is, the adhesive or cement mortar bedding of the titles. All of this is compounded by very poor or non-existent quality control  by the Housing Authority.

Could it be that Mr Stanley's fears of an ICAC investigation also suit the agenda of the Housing Authority, as quality control failures are their own in-house responsibility?

J. Charleston, Tai Hang

On other matters ...

Your report about motorists being stuck in traffic jams during Monday's storms is just further evidence of how unthinking and inconsiderate private car owners can be.

A Mr Wai, who spent four hours in his car travelling only between Hunghom and Kowloon City, seemed to think that the government was responsible for the storm and his resulting dilemma. How stupid and ignorant people can be.

During the past two rainy days, while walking contentedly past barely moving but heavily polluting lines of traffic in Sha Tin, I witnessed no less than three cases of driver 'road rage'.

Frustrated car drivers were observed attempting to gain a bit in the queue by simultaneously cutting across the road into a slightly faster moving lane of traffic.

With amusement I watched the drivers of these cars, which had almost collided, wind down their windows and start vulgar insult-trading as their blood pressures rose.

When will Hong Kong private car owners learn that they are better off on foot or using public transport?

Perhaps Mr Wai was right after all when he said the Transport Bureau should be blamed. They have repeatedly failed to listen to reasonable demands for the introduction of congestion-reducing electronic road pricing.

P.A. Crush, Sha Tin

The traffic deadlock in Kowloon on  May 9 reveals a wider issue of inconsistency in government transport policy.

The worst affected area in Kowloon on Monday has been the subject of an MTR study since the early 1990s, under the codename of East Kowloon Line. Together with the proposed North Island Line,  it was to be consolidated as the Sha Tin-Central Line after the KCRC won the bid for its construction over the MTR Corporation.

However, with the  talk of merging the two railway corporations, the  planned line has hardly been mentioned since.

The same situation applies to  the plan to extend the existing MTR Island Line, built in 1986, to Kennedy Town.

Stacks of reports were produced by engineering consultants over the past 15 years, yet  it was all talk and no action.

Meanwhile, major developers have put up multi-storey complexes at the proposed locations of stations since 1986 - Connaught Garden (Sai Ying Pun), The Belchers (University/Shek Tong Tsui), The Merton, Manhattan Heights, and Ka Wai Man Road redevelopment (Kennedy Town), all of which the MTR Corp could have participated in.

The chaos this week could have been alleviated by having the Sha Tin-Central-Western Line in place.

Sadly, the only discussions so far have been about the reclamation to house the Central-Wan Chai bypass and about the equalisation of traffic flow  in the cross-harbour tunnels.

Name and address supplied



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