HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1953
During the year under review the responsibilities of the division have further increased by the addition of three Govern- ment compounds, and one large public playground, which was opened in September. This playground, like all others in the Colony, is being used to its fullest extent. It has been provided with a miniature football pitch and stand accommodation for 1,200 spectators, two basketball courts, and a section for chil- dren with a sand pit, swings and a seesaw. Two new public recreation schemes are in course of layout and construction, and will be completed shortly. These are the King George V Memorial Parks at Kowloon and Hong Kong which have been designed to cater for the needs of the older visitors as well as the ever increasing demands of the more active sections of the community.
Until recently the Colony possessed no public grass-covered recreation grounds where teams could hire pitches as required. Recent development of a 'Pool' scheme of thirty acres of playing-fields at the Wongneichong race course and a part of the King's Park Recreation Grounds, comprising in all some 30 acres, has proved to be most successful. From the inception of the scheme, in the autumn of 1952, 4,698 games have been played on the grounds. The value of the scheme to the sporting public is shown by the formation of several new competition leagues which use only these grounds, and which are composed of the lesser privileged groups unable to maintain their own pitches. A scheme is in hand for the construction of additional playing-fields, recreational areas and a swimming pool, within a new area of about fifty acres, now in the course of reclama- tion for use as the main city park.
The horticultural section has three main nurseries for the propagation of ornamental plants to supply the needs of the division and for sale to the public. Several thousand plants are grown each year for official purposes, and for outdoor decoration. In the training
In the training and culture of these plants an
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