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He said: The Motion before us calls for an investigation on how to use the lands adjoining the railway tracks in Kowloon as open areas for public use is an answer to an urgent problem confronting us. If this Motion is passed, we will have a healthy city lung across the Peninsula.
Residents in Kowloon envy the fourteen parks and playgrounds on the Island, particularly the Botanic Gardens and the Victoria Park, and I have often been asked why they have not been as adequately provided for since they live in as crowded conditions as their brothers and sisters on the other side of the harbour.
May I take this opportunity to point out that the Urban Council is well aware of this anomaly and have decided to build two large parks and playgrounds at Lai Chi Kok and Kowloon Tsai, the total area of which covers 44 acres, and this is included in the current Urban Amenities Expansion Program. The delay in the past was due to clearance and resettlement of squatters in these sites. With the rapid housing development in Kowloon, these two parks, when completed, will still be insufficient to cope with the sport activities of schools and clubs.
It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find more suitable sites for large parks and playgrounds in Kowloon to meet public demand. We have, therefore, in the past two years turned traffic islands and undeveloped open spaces in the Urban areas into small children's playgrounds or rest gardens with benches, safety cabin slides, Jungle Gyms, as well as basketball goals and volley ball posts in areas large enough to contain them. With a population of nearly 2 million in the Peninsula, this piecemeal development is not enough. We must utilize every possible open space to provide more suitable playgrounds. The lands adjoining the railway tracks in Kowloon will, indeed, be the most logical and suitable space for development playgrounds and parks.
The relevant Select Committee and the Gardens Division will in the near future submit appropriate plans for the development of these lands for Government consideration. The earlier the amenities are provided, the quicker the children will find safer places to play in, and members of the public will then be able to enjoy their breath of fresh air in the evenings in a better environment instead of being forced to sit on crowded pavements, streets and traffic islands.
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Mr. BERNACCHI :—Mr. Chairman, I will certainly support Mr. Sales' motion. I feel that I am in entire agreement with him when he says that it is most necessary for us to ensure in good time that sufficient spaces are made available as they become available for the purpose of parks and playgrounds. The only reason indeed why I did not feel that I could support his previous motion was because I felt in that case that we were trying to close the door after the horse had left the stable. In this case there is every opportunity to ensure that the lands adjoining the railway tracks in Kowloon are made available as open spaces. This is so whether or not the railway station is ultimately moved.
I feel that a few words are not out of place on that particular subject because whilst the removal of this station further back will make greater areas available for better parks and playgrounds, I do feel, and in that respect I agree with the remarks that you have made in answer to my friend Mr. Sales' question, that very careful consideration has got to be given. Persons of small means who arrive by train must be able for instance to find a ferry service immediately on hand to take them across the harbour and not find themselves compelled to lay out further transport money getting from the station to their own place of destination. And in supporting this motion I do want to make it clear that I for one would want to give very careful consideration to any proposals for moving the station itself before I would be able to say I was in support of it.
May I conclude by saying that the need for parks is a desperate need in Hong Kong. Some time ago we opened some boulevards along the Gloucester Road. I would like to see these extended. I would like to see open spaces turned into parks. I agree we have not enough playgrounds, but we have even less parks and both the elderly and the young want parks just as much as playgrounds. Every space that we can lay our hands on should be obtained and turned into a park for the amenities of the urban areas.
MR. SALES :—Mr. Chairman, once again I appreciate very much the support which this motion has found on the part of some of my friends in this Council. I would like to say at once to disabuse the minds of those who may be listening to me that my motion is in no way connected with the removal of the railway station in Kowloon. I intend to start the Parks and Playgrounds
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