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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Before the era of town-planning very little thought was taken by successive Administrations for the days when unhealthy con-
gestion in the heart of the city would be severely and sorely felt as it is to-day. What has occurred on the Island should be made impossible on the mainland where rapid development is going on almost from day to day. The Government would do well to earmark specific sites for the provision of these "lungs" which are so essential to the health of the people.
We are aware of Your Excellency's personal sympathy with the need for recreation among all classes of the population, and we trust that you will see fit to instruct the Public Works Depart- ment to allot a piece of ground to the Chinese community for a golf-link; and, pending such allotment and completion of the link, to set aside certain days of the week for the playing of golf by Chinese on some of the existing recreation grounds.
The recent development in the realm of sport by the Chinese has been well described as nothing short of marvellous. A well-de- veloped body makes for greater efficiency in work, and experience has proven that the best workers among the young Chinese are those who have taken up sport of one kind or another with zest. To-day golf is not, as in time gone past, a luxury for the few, as witness the growth of municipal golfcourses throughout Great Britain. That example can well be adopted for the requirements of the population in which the Chinese element predominates to the extent of over 95 per cent.
Although the honourable senior unofficial member has dealt with the all-important question of waterworks at some length, we make no apology for expressing the views of the Chinese by way of amplification and emphasis.
When the 1929 Estimates were before this Council the Hon. Dr. Kotewall, speaking on behalf of the Chinese unofficials, offered some pertinent comments on the subject. I feel that I cannot do better than repeat some of his words. "The complaints we have heard this year," he said, "have been particularly bitter. While one may regret such bitterness, one cannot help sympathising with the distress that evokes it. The more intelligent classes know that there are things which are beyond human control. They also know the efforts made by the Government to secure a permanent aug- mentation of our water supply. But the people bearing the actual hardship cannot be expected to make fine distinctions. All that they know is that year after year, for many years, and sometimes more than once in the short period of a few months, they have to endure a restricted supply; and that, so far, no tangible evidence of the Government's endeavour to find a permanent remedy is in sight."
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