Hong pong

COULD the Urban Services Department clean up the stench of urine that pervades the stairs linking the Star Ferry concourse to the Mandarin Hotel on Connaught Road Central? It is bad enough giving our big-spending visitors a hard time queueing as they arrive at Kai Tak Immigration counters, but to invade their nostrils as they step out of their five-star hotel on a walkabout of Central, is just as unpleasant.

This development appears to be a recent phenomenon on the otherwise pristine streets around Statue Square. GERALD BROWN Lamma