mendation was broadly supported by a third overseas consultant whose advice was subsequently obtained, but who recommended that the first stage of the building should be more ambitious and be designed with an area of 56,220 square feet to accommodate 300,000 volumes, followed by a relatively small second stage to accom- modate the remaining 100,000 volumes.
75. Even before this latter opinion was sought Government had expressed some reservations and con- siderable misgivings at the recommended scale of the project and was reluctant to finance the establishment or maintenance of libraries at the Chinese University greatly in excess of those of other comparable institutions in the Far East. Concern was expressed, not only at the capital costs, but also at the substantial recurrent costs which would be involved and it was pointed out that even if capital assistance was obtained from other donors, the recurrent cost of maintenance and staffing was a factor that had to be viewed strictly in relation to need.
76. Despite these views the University not only accepted the advice of their consultants in principle but decided on a larger building than even they had recommended, proposing one with a total area of 72,500 square feet to be built in two stages, of which the first would be some 57,600 square feet costing an estimated $3.5 million. A generous private donation of $3 million which had been made available for the construction of the library building was thus inadequate for even the first stage and Government approved a financial allocation to the project of $1,178,000. With these funds available the University decided to construct both stages in one operation and to enlarge the area yet again, thereby further increasing the Government capital allocation to $4.3 million of the eventual total project cost of $7.5 million. The area of the building finally aggregated 86,000 square feet (being 22.4 square feet per head of the 1975-76 student population) or nearly half as large again as that recommended by the original consultants, in whose view even the structure of less than 60,000 square feet which they had suggested, would have created “an institution of high distinction" and possibly the foremost university library in Southeast Asia.
77. As by 1975 the stock of books accommodated in the library totalled only 160,000, I suggested to the University that the result of building the library in one stage instead of the two recommended by all the con- sultants, was that it possessed a building which for the present and in the foreseeable future was likely to be under-utilized for the purpose for which it was designed. I pointed out that the drain on the recurrent budget through annual maintenance, operating and staff costs was bound to be considerable (for example, the cost of electricity alone is in the region of $120,000 a year) and in my view bore out the concern in this regard expressed by Government very early in the planning stage. The University however was of the opinion that the money spent on the library building, which it noted had been completed within the originally approved allocation after adjustment for the rising cost of construction, had been a good investment, that the reasons for building the library in one stage instead of the two proposed by the consultants were well founded, and that the adoption of this course had been of economic advantage and had resulted in less disruption of work at a time of rapid student increase. It was stated that for a few years the library was accommodating the post-graduate programme and research centres which had had their offices in the urban area where rents were very high and it was main- tained therefore that most of the space was well utilized, except for certain book stack areas where book shelves remained empty because the rapidly increasing price of books and journals had restricted the rate of acquisition. It was also considered that as a focal point of the institution and a dominant feature of the University Campus, the library fulfilled the need for a building of good aesthetic design which would provide for future generations and would be a manifestation of the quality of education and research conducted by the University.
78. Head 89-Urban Services Department. The security of Government offices in which cash transactions are conducted is, particularly at the present time, a matter of prime concern and in order to achieve an acceptable minimum standard the Director of Accounting Services carries out inspections of the security arrangements at various offices and prescribes criteria to be adopted. As part of this process a survey of several Urban Services Department regional and district salary payment offices was carried out in early 1974 and recommendations were made for improvements in the security arrangements. It was agreed that using these recommendations as a basis, the Urban Services Department would conduct a similar survey of all its salary payment centres with a view to ensuring that the security arrangements conformed to the recommended standards.
79. Over a year later, in August, 1975, an armed robbery took place during a pay parade at the Tsuen Wan Sports Ground Office, as a result of which over $64,000 was stolen. It was then found that the security precautions at the office were negligible and failed to meet any of the specifications prescribed by the Treasury, and the Director of Accounting Services expressed the view that had his recommendations made fourteen months earlier been implemented, the premises would not have been used as a pay centre and the loss of Government money might have been averted. Steps were subsequently taken by the Director of Urban Services to eliminate the use of unsuitable offices as pay centres and to bring the security of other pay offices up to acceptable standards. Concurrently, in line with similar action being taken throughout the Civil Service, strenuous efforts have been made to reduce the number of staff receiving their salaries in cash, in order to eradicate the risk of further payroll robberies.
16