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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
establish Vocational Training Centres in the remaining 12 Estates which do not yet have Vocational Training Centres?
In
THE COMMISSIONER for RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:
Sir, of the eighteen urban estates 9 have vocational training centres. The residents of a tenth estate, Tin Wan, can make use of a vocational training centre provided, among other facilities, by a voluntary organization close by. I know of no specific plans to provide additional centres.
the older estates space is limited; but I am always prepared to try to find suitable premises for any vocational training centre that might be recommended. In the newer estates welfare facilities are provided in a separate welfare block. As I stated in reply to a similar question in May this year, the Director of Social Welfare, in consultation with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, would normally only accept such centres if they offered real prospects of subsequent employment. There is also the practical point of whether the floor-loading of any heavy equipment is suitable to the building.
The Director's recommendations for filling the first welfare block, at Ham Tin Estate, do not include a vocational training centre. But I am informed that in planning subsequent welfare blocks he will bring to the notice of voluntary agencies concerned the demand for such centres, within the limitations I have mentioned.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: --Mr. Chairman, of the 22 Resettlement Estates under the management of the Commissioner, there are 12 estates which could the Com- do not as yet have any vocational training centres. missioner discuss with the Director of Social Welfare-rather consult- as to which of these estates could eventually have a vocational training centre. In other words, even though these estates have already been completed, where would it be feasible in these estates to have a vocational training centre built and managed by a voluntary agency. such information later on be provided to me by letter?
Could
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I shall be happy to do so Mr. Chairman, but as I have mentioned, in the estates that have already been built there is a difficulty in finding space because all the available space has been pretty well occupied already.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, do I understand then that voluntary training centres in resettlement areas are dependent on voluntary agencies for the running thereof?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: -That is my understanding.
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MR. BERNACCHI :--And there are no training centres run by Govern- ment itself in resettlement areas?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-No, Sir.
(5) MR. HENRY H. L. HU asked the following question:
Would the Chairman inform the Council whether there is any definite plan to construct a museum in Hong Kong? Where or when would such a museum be built?
MR. WILSON T. S. WANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
This question concerns definite plans for the building of a new
Museum in Hong Kong.
There exists at present no definite plan to construct a new
Museum building in Hong Kong.
Members will recall that as a result of inadequate accommoda- tion provided for the Museum and Art Gallery in the City Hall, the Museum and Art Gallery Select Committee with its advisory panel prepared a Report on Museum and Art Gallery Services with recommendations for their devel- opment in Hong Kong. This was forwarded to Govern- ment in 1965. As a result, Government accepted the fact that the Museum and Art Gallery required more space and offered the existing New Rodney Block in Queensway as its possible future home.
The Museum and Art Gallery Select Committee carefully considered this offer in the light of the site, the building and the 1965 recommendations, and in February this year submitted to Government a report on the conversion of the New Rodney Block as a Museum and Art Gallery. In reply, Government stated that the level of capital and recurrent costs as estimated in the report submitted was not acceptable, and the Select Committee concerned is, therefore, now considering appropriate changes in its pro- posals for the New Rodney Block. The suggestion has also been made that an overall plan be produced covering the existing facilities in the City Hall and the proposed usage of existing buildings (with modifications) in Whit- field Park and the New Rodney Block.
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