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As members are aware, at the last meeting of the Council, during the debate on the Motion "that this council urges the government to provide more public open space within the Central District", some members also suggested that a new museum should be built on the site of the present Hong Kong Cricket Club Ground. This suggestion will be discussed at a joint meeting of the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee and the Museum and Art Gallery Select Committee.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, may I through you ask Mr. WANG, as the Chairman of the Museum and Art Gallery Select Committee, if his Committee ever found the desirability of having one museum in Hong Kong and one museum in Kowloon?
MR. WANG:-Mr. Chairman, anyone can easily say that it is most desirable to have as big a museum and as many museums as we can afford to have in Hong Kong. I think the question is how far should we go to develop a museum in Hong Kong, and how much money will be made available for this purpose.
MR. BERNACCHI:-I would like to have clarified if the position is that there is to be a museum in a block or blocks in Whitfield Barracks Park?
MR. WANG:-Yes. I think our friend, Mr. BERNACCHI, was absent on leave when we had our last meeting at which we discussed estimates in order to comply with Government's estimate for the development of a new museum. We also considered the use of a building, which is reserved in Whitfield Park as a museum, mainly for educational services, and the New Rodney Block to which, as you might recall it was originally intended to add one more storey and another wing, etc. etc. which made the total budget unacceptable.
MR. BERNACCHI:--So that from that answer do I gather that Government has not withdrawn the offer of the New Rodney Block, but has found the Council's recommendation as to the alterations to the Rodney Block unacceptable?
MR. WANG:-Yes, I think that is the case.
MR. HU:---I just want to make one extra comment about this: is Mr. WANG, in his reply when he said "in reply, Government stated that the level of capital and recurrent costs as estimated in the report submitted was not acceptable", referring to the Rodney Block and not the buildings in Whitfield Barracks?
MR. WANG:-Yes, I think this is clear. I was referring to a lot of proposed additions to be made in the new Rodney Block.
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MR. HU:-Is it clear that up to this moment no report has been submitted to the Government for the construction of a new museum building?
MR. WANG:---No, as I said in the very beginning, there is no definite plan for the building of a new museum yet.
MR. HU:-Thank you for that.
(6) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-
Is the building of an Oceanarium in Aberdeen to be delayed or abandoned? If it is to be abandoned could the Chairman inform the Council whether there is any other plan to use this piece of land for public recreation purpose?
MR. A. de O. SALES, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION AND AMENITIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:
Mr. Chairman, this question concerns the provision of an oceanarium near Aberdeen.
The possibility of building an oceanarium in Hong Kong was considered in Executive Council in July 1967, when the Government decided to assist an appropriate non-profit making organization in constructing and operating an oceanarium to the extent of granting about 300,000 square feet of land at Brick Hill near Aberdeen, at no premium, on a 75-year non-renewable lease and by agreeing to consider exempting the organization from the payment of business profits tax and entertainment tax. The Government was also prepared to participate in planning the oceanarium.
I am told that there was no response to this offer so the Government decided to consider alternative ways of developing the site for recreation. A gradual development over a period of years was envisaged, and the Urban Services Department was invited to suggest the amenities which it might embrace and the way in which its development should be phased.
In July of this year, the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee endorsed a proposal to develop the area as a public park. This proposal was forwarded to the Colonial Secretary for consideration as an item for inclusion in the 1969-70 Public Works Programme.
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