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railway, whether or not it plans to remove the railway and to what extent it would cater to the man in the street to make it easier for him to commute. I think that that is closely allied with the motion which has been put forward by Mr. Sales. Perhaps to some extent it may be a little premature, but I believe that Mr. Sales's intentions are very well meant. He wants to stake a claim to see that there are parks and playgrounds in the Star Ferry area. Now, I believe the Civic Association members will want to abstain from this, but it does not mean that in principle we are not in favour of the motion of Mr. Sales. Put it this way, we are in favour of the principle behind the motion put forward by Mr. Sales, but we do feel that perhaps since the railway is still there, it may take years and years to remove, and that being the case we would rather abstain from voting.
MR. SALES—Mr. Chairman, availing myself now of the right of reply under Standing Orders, there are certain points which require emphasis even though I was under the impression that in moving this motion I had made myself clear on: (a) that this motion stakes a claim before more land is taken up by Government for other projects; (b) that this motion does not take into account the railway decision at all because I have expressed no opinion at any time as to whether the railway ought to be moved or not; (c) that whilst we appear to be having qualms on this subject of asking Government to provide land for public use, Government itself is not holding back other projects on this very reclamation area commonly called "railway land." It is true that the railway tracks run across this extensive area and as such the land adjacent thereto are assigned to the responsibility, I believe, of the railway authorities in Hong Kong, yet the mere fact that many buildings are appearing on all that area would seem to be proof enough that the railway issue is not an excuse for inaction on the part of Government in connexion with other public projects. If this Council should feel chicken-hearted on this matter, then, Mr. Chairman, may I express my disappointment that the public interest in Kowloon is being disregarded. It only goes to prove the opinion which is widely held, Mr. Chairman, that Kowloon is in effect a Cinderella in our scheme of things.
The question was put.
The Motion was carried.
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DR. R. H. S. LEE moved the following resolution:—
"In view of the absence of urban amenities on the west side of Hong Kong, this Council recommend to Government that the present site of the Kennedy Town Slaughter House and its surrounding area of crown land be reserved for the development of a public park in preference to other development, and that the Gardens Division be asked to prepare plans for its development in anticipation of the completion of the new slaughter house."
He said: For Hong Kong's overcrowded population more parks is one of the answers to improve its overall standards of health and much needed urban amenities. As these matters are the immediate concern of this Council, we must always be on the alert to put in our bid for this type of development before the land is snatched for other purposes. To illustrate my point, I hardly need to enlarge on what has already happened to King's Park in Kowloon. If we don't make a stand now, it is possible that every suitable piece of land which has the potentials of a park will be alienated before we know what has happened. If we don't set in motion the machinery to ask Government to reserve the present site of the Kennedy Town Slaughter House now, I am sure it will be ear-marked for other uses. Since land in Hong Kong is such a precious commodity, it is not easy to find another site of equal size which has the same features of access and suitability.
I know that we have a Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, but half the pleasure of visiting a park is lost by having to queue and travel in very congested conditions as people would have to if they live in the western part of Hong Kong. In the hot months of the year the demand for parks is very great indeed. The case to create another "breathing lung" for the people living west of Sai Ying Pun is obvious. In view of the high incidence of tuberculosis I am sure Members will agree that the more assistance we can give to build up their resistance against the infection by providing, amongst other things, more open spaces and healthier surroundings, the greater is their ability to fight the disease. As Kennedy Town is becoming more residential and one of the Housing Authority's housing estates is located there, it is all the more important that a public park should be sited in this particular part of the Island. One of the joys of life
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