been accepted and its principal findings implemented. There remains a need, as Hr. Yeung has pointed out, to deal with the question of compensation for resumed land outside the towns. I am glad to report that proposals for this have been approved by you, Sir, in Council and that I will shortly be discussing them with the Heung Yee Kuk.
I am glad, too, to report that despite the preponderant need to provide land for public housing and despite the immense size of the continuing resumption programme, it should theoretically be possible to extinguish all exchange entitlements Letters B outstanding at the
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end of March this year, 1978, by the end of March 1981.
I say theoretically because, for one reason or another, too many owners are holding on to their exchange letters, and are not presenting them for exchange when land is advertised for exchange. I have to advise these owners that unless they take up the option when an exchange is available, it may be necessary to cancel the priority these old exchange rights normally attract under the present system of calculation.
In my speech last year I mentioned that I hoped to establish Advisory Boards in each of the New Territories Districts. This, too, is now an accomplished fact! The Boards have been in existence for almost a year and have given advice as to how funds, amounting to $3.7 million, should be spent on environmental improvement and recreation and leisure activities. They are beginning to take a lively hand in local affairs and I am hopeful that when Urban Services, Public Works, and my own Department are re- organised and strengthened, we will be able to respond more readily to local demands, and that we will achieve a much higher standard of urban management than we have in the past. We are planning our new towns, and replanning the old, so that they provide a satisfying living environment, so that the people within them find work and enjoyment, and
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