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that Victoria Park would be the only open space on the waterfront or the only level open area between Shau Kei Wan and Kennedy Town, but he has overlooked the very considerable area which is reserved between the ex-Dockyard land and the Police Headquarters, under the Central Area redevelopment plan. It is certainly a big piece of land, if not bigger than the one we are now talking about. The third misconception which I would like to speak on is the point made by Dr. BELL, who suggested once again that as much land as possible was being sold and as little land as possible was being made available for open space. I now give some figures which I quoted in my speech at the last Annual Debate in December 1964 in reply to criticisms made by Mr. SALES, who was not here at the time. In the last 5 years, Government has sold 244 acres of land by public auction and, at the same time, it has developed 172 acres of land as public open space; and I use the word "developed" advisedly because this is not land which has been reserved for open space, but land which has actually been developed as open space and handed over to this Council to run. So, 244 acres of land were sold by public auction and 172 acres were developed as public open space. In addition, there are something like 500 acres of land that have been disposed of by private treaty, mostly to the Housing Authority, the Housing Society, and the Resettlement Department for housing, and within those resettlement areas Government has laid down another 13 acres for public open space. So I would like to correct these misconceptions that Government sells all the land and does not make any available for open space.
Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, on a point of clarification, could Mr. WRIGHT please clarify for me whether the acreage which he mentioned as developed was in fact started from scratch in that year and completed in that year?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: Mr. Chairman, I said the last 5 years 244 acres have been sold by public auction and 172 acres have been developed within those 5 years.
CHAIRMAN: I was encouraged to read in a report in the newspaper this morning that Hong Kong has more open space than London or New York or any other cities. (Laughter). I am not sure what credence to give to that report.
In the light of what has been said by the various speakers in this debate, I feel that I should mention first what has been achieved, what is being achieved now, and what we, that is, the Urban Council, are determined to achieve in the years ahead in the provision of public parks and playgrounds. These parks and playgrounds are a comparatively recent development in Hong Kong, on the scale on which we know them now. At the end of 1956 this Council had in its care 65 acres of public pleasure ground containing 67 amenity facilities. To-day it manages 356 acres of public pleasure ground, containing 502 amenity facilities. I hope that by April 1966 this will increase to about 420 acres, containing some 606 facilities. By 1970 I expect that the areas under the management of the Council will total nearly 1,000 acres and contain anything up to 1,200 different facilities. I think that it is reasonable to ask whether any other city could match this rate of growth, namely, a ten-fold increase in the decade from 1956 to 1966, although admittedly from a numerically small base, or, much more significant, a probable doubling of the number of amenity facilities between now and about 1969. I hope that there is no idea that the Department, despite the stimulation of the Council, is being in any way complacent or lacking in energy. Of course, I realize that there is an urgent need to achieve more and to achieve it quickly. I think that this is the aim of all concerned in Government, as well as in the Urban Council.
Reference was made to the loss of land at Victoria Park. It became known last month that 4.28 acres of Victoria Park would be needed for the new waterfront road and for the improvements to the Roxy Roundabout. It is proposed that at the next meeting of the Urban Amenities Select Committee, Members should be shown how this loss itself would largely be compensated for by developing some 3.57 acres of new reclamation as an extension to the park.
It is certainly proper, I feel, for this Council to ask to be given as much land as possible for amenity development and I think that the Official Members are at one with the Unofficials in this matter. But equally it is the duty of Government to try to strike a balance between the many conflicting demands for land, and I need not remind Members that in the built-up areas it is land that is perhaps the scarcest commodity of all.
I believe that this question of the land at Causeway Bay was first raised with Government as long ago as 1957. Government is well aware of the Council's interest in the land there, as I have said previously in reply to questions asked in this Council. I have made enquiries since receiving notice of this motion and I understand that the question of the disposal of the land at Causeway Bay is still under consideration by Government. I cannot say when a decision is likely to be reached in the matter.
I am glad to support the motion.
DR. LEE: On a point of clarification, Mr. Chairman, when you quoted these impressive statistics in terms of hundreds of acres, do you realize that in other major cities of the world they talk in terms of hundreds of square miles for parks and playgrounds? (Laughter).
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