J
I AM writing this article not merely gehoff my chest the repressed frustrations of 11 years government service. I believe that the New Territories are neglected and that the present administrative system cannot keep pace with the problems. The environment and the quality of life in the New Territories is deteriorating at a frightening pace.
Much was done to open up the New Territories in the early days, culminating in the completion of the circular road system in the 1920s. In
.1926 farsighted District Officer even pegged out the alignment of a road around Ma On Shan.
one
Yet it has taken getting on for 50 years to start building this road -- and even then the main purpose is to facilitate a reservoir scheme, not to improve communications.
Impotus
In the intervening years no major road project has - been undertaken in Taipo the of
reservoir schemes or the military,
, 'district without
impetus
·
apart from some feeder roads built with money given by the
the British Government.
Islands such as Kat 0 remain as cut off as they were half a century ago. The island of Ping Chau in Mirs Bay, which has since received some half-hearted assistance
from Government, was virtually undiscovered prior to the Pacific War.
In 1960, probably not for the first time, I proposed a system of radio communications to link such remote places as these
was
MR J.C.H. Marriott
personally took the Director of Urban Services together with the District Commissioner and an impressive retinue of senior officials from other departments around some of the horror spots in Taipo district to show them the increasing th and squalor. At the time I left we bad spent four fruitless years trying to convince the Secretariat that more cleansing staff were needed. It is unfortunately only too clear from the photographs accompanying your World Alive' feature on December 13th, 1970 that effective action still remains to be taken.
Analysis
3
to the NT mainland. When I left last year this matter
Still more inexcusable, still under consideration in
Government the
analysis of Secretariat.
water samples taken from streams near the tanneries in 1969 detected traces of chromium, and also, unless my memory fails me, of arsenic. On the strength of this report and other evidence of a fast deteriorating situation strong recommendation was made to the Secretariat that the tanneries should be forced to close, whatever villagers
the difficulties and economic con- sequences. Again it is evident that nothing has been done.
We
The local public works scheme is intended to serve the small-scale engineering needs of the NT. But during my time as 10. in Taipo we were kept so short of funds that were about a year behind the demand and losing ground steadily. Among the jobs that bed 10 br deferred were some promised the during the 1967 riots when Government was anxious to secure popular support.
Much of the NT is undeniably filthy.
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No-one visiting the New Territories can fail to be
"
HONG KONG STANDARD
8th Feb., 1971.