Page 154 of 312
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, CHAIRMAN OF THE CITY HALL SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
In reply to the first part of the question, on the average, the two City Hall lecture rooms are used for 90 hours a month for evening lectures, meetings and film shows by societies and schools. This in effect means the lecture rooms are in use every week-day evening.
Two Government departments use the lecture rooms regularly. These are the Public Works Department for Crown land auctions, and the Police for written tests for driving licences. Such use is, however, only made during the day, when there is little demand for the lecture rooms. On the average, these departments use the rooms for 50 hours a month, out of a total of 480 hours available.
In reply to the second part of the question, there is little or no likelihood of additional lecture rooms becoming available in the City Hall. The City Hall Select Committee, however, has recently extended the opening hours for the lecture rooms to 9 p.m. (instead of 8 p.m.) on week-days and has further decided that the evening periods for hire are from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The reason for this is that in the past, the lecture rooms were often hired, say, from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. or from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., which meant that only one hirer used a particular lecture room in the evenings although he occupied that lecture room for only 2 hours. Under the new system, a maximum of 20 evening sessions will be available as against the former 10.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, this matter was brought to my attention by a member of the public. May I ask the Chairman of the City Hall Select Committee, through you, if he is aware that many applications have been made for the use of the lecture rooms and they have been turned down because of lack of times?
MR. BERNACCHI:- Certainly, the applications are more than the availability of the lecture rooms, and that is one of the reasons for the City Hall Select Committee's recent decision to extend the hours, by which means the hours are in fact doubled, and I hope the position will be better in future.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, do you think there is any possibility of extending the City Hall in future onto any of the adjacent land to make bigger lecture rooms? I have heard quite a number of members of the public complaining about the small size of the lecture rooms.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. BERNACCHI:- I would, as Chairman of the City Hall Select Committee, refer Mrs. ELLIOTT's further supplementary question over to the Director of Public Works. (Laughter).
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:- I would say there is little chance of extending the present building. In fact, I do not think it would be desirable. Whether there is any possibility of getting other lecture rooms in new public buildings in this vicinity when they are built, I do not know. When I say new public buildings, I am referring generally to the Post Office and everything else rather than specifically for the Urban Council.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, will it be possible for Government to erect a municipal building and then to make available a floor in it?
MR. BERNACCHI:- As Chairman of the City Hall Select Committee, I am, of course, all in favour of the suggestion made by Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN to have a new municipal building.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, following on a point made by the Director of Public Works, may I ask whether there is any possibility of having space made available in Kowloon for lecture rooms?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:- Mr. Chairman, I would like to have notice of that question. It is difficult to say, and I would like to think about it and let Mr. CHEONG-LEEN have an answer later.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Perhaps the reply could be directed to the City Hall Select Committee.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:- Yes, Sir.
(14) MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:
(a) How many squatters in Morrison Hill are being removed to Tsz Wan Shan in north-east Kowloon?
(b) How long does it take to travel from Tsz Wan Shan to Wan Chai, where many of these people work, and what transport is available on the Kowloon side? What would be the daily cost of travelling to Wan Chai and back from this area? Has the bus company been informed sufficiently in advance to provide services?
(c) Exactly why are squatters from Hong Kong being resettled so far away? Is it that resettlement blocks spoil the scenery of Hong Kong, or is it merely short-sighted planning of resettlement sites?
284
285
Page 155 of 312