2.
villagers of the New Territories and their properties should be safeguarded.
Traditional customs should be respected and ancestral halls, temples,
manasteries, cemeteries and historical buildings should be preserved by the Hong
Long Government.
3.
Many laws and policies exist which are contrary to the traditional
rights of villagers in the New Territories. These laws and policies should be
amended to restore the traditional rights of the villagers.
IV.
1.
GRIEVANCES AND COMPLAINTS
The Hong Kong Government has encouraged and caused the establishment
of industry and the incursion of people into the New Territories to the prejudice
of the indigenous inhabitants.
2.
The existing land policy contributes to the general prosperity of Hong
Kong but to a much lesser degree to those inhabitants in the New Territories who
have made the greatest contribution and sacrifice. They have been displaced,
ancestral homes and land expropriated, and their traditional livelihood of farming
largely negatived.
3.
While such loss and damage might be excusable and even acceptable under
equitable conditions in the course of progress, the plight of the indigenous
inhabitants have been exacerbated by the denial to them, on their being quasi
urbanised, of the benefits bestowed on the urban dwellers of Hong Kong Island and
Kowloon. The expenditure of Government funds for the provision of facilities in
the New Territories has been concentrated in the areas where industry has been
established and people from the urban areas have been encouraged to move into.
Such facilities are evident in Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun, and are planned for Shatin
and Tai Po. Little has been provided for the rest of the New Territories.
4.
Shortcomings include the following:-
(a) Medical Services: These are inadequate. Apart from the mental
and prison hospitals which cater for the whole of Hong Kong, there
are only 4 general hospitals in the New Territories (Yuen Long,
Fanling, Tsuen Wan and Cheung Chau) with a total of about 400 beds
(1 bed per 2,700 persons). They are all founded by private
2.