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MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, may I clarify a point? I have had people in Shek Kip Mei, for instance, come and say that they would like a certain room and when I told them the answer that the Commissioner gave me, they said "Well it has been empty for six months. Why is nobody living in it?”
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- All I can say to that, Mr. Chairman, is if the information is given to me, I can certainly check up. So far as I am aware, such cases, if they do exist, must be extremely rare and, as I say, I have never come across any such cases. If you have any information about particular rooms I would be very glad to look into it and see what has happened.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, I do know of some areas, but as it is impossible for me to go round all the estates and check up, I will be glad if an inspector would.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, I had not intended that Mrs. ELLIOTT does it personally, but if she has information through the various people who see her, then she could pass the information on to me that way.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, could not that be referred to the UMELCO office which is now going to be an independent agency?
MR. HU:- As a matter of fact, Mr. Chairman, I must say that the department, and also the Management Select Committee, have paid great attention to decantation over the past year or so. We have already done our best to reduce the density of each estate, especially the Pak Tin Estate which, as you all know, will be designated for decantation purposes. It is a very complicated procedure for internal and external decantation. There is a great deal of percentage difference from one estate to another estate, and there is also the complexity that people in certain estates can also move to other estates. So this is the management difficulty, I must say that, but certainly we have paid a great deal of attention to this problem.
MR. SALES:- Mr. Chairman, arising out of the information given to this Council just now by Mr. Henry Hu, surely Mr. Hu and his Committee must be aware that there is a very simple formula for decantation which has been enunciated in this Council which Government has now accepted, and for that reason it is deserving of every attention by the Unofficial Members.
(4) MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:-
(a) When was the building for the Wah Fu Library completed?
(b) What is holding up the opening of the library?
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(c) Is there any plan to open the library during the current year?
THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-
The premises for the library at Wah Fu Estate were available in March 1968.
Estimates for their fitting-out, the installation of the air-conditioning plant, furniture, equipment, bookstock and other costs have been under consideration since April 1968. The final estimates were presented to the Financial Secretary in May 1969, since when the Financial Secretary pointed out that the location proposed for the library in the southwest part of the Island puts Wah Fu Estate in a favoured position in relation to the rest of the area.
He also enquired if, in view of the possible growth of Aberdeen, it would not be better to locate the library in Aberdeen from the outset. He was informed that one drawback to this proposal was that there is no suitable accommodation immediately available in Aberdeen, whereas the premises at Wah Fu Estate already exist. Also that if, at some future date, suitable accommodation could be provided in a government building in Aberdeen, there might be a case for moving the library from Wah Fu to Aberdeen.
The Financial Secretary has since returned with a request for an assurance that there is no question of establishing a second library in the area in view of the fact that it is not possible to afford libraries in both Wah Fu and Aberdeen. This matter is for consideration by the Library Select Committee at its next meeting. Assuming that the Library Select Committee agrees to proceed with the Wah Fu Estate Library, and not to delay matters further by agreeing to await suitable accommodation in Aberdeen, the work involved in preparing the Wah Fu Estate Library, i.e. fitting out, building up initial book-stocks and the recruitment of staff, will require approximately six months. It therefore appears unlikely that the Wah Fu Estate Library will be opened much before April 1970.
MR. SALES:- Mr. Chairman, this Council ought to express its concern at the sinister efforts by the Financial Secretary to keep down the literacy rate in Hong Kong. (Laughter). Is it not possible, Sir, that, in addition to this Wah Fu Estate Library, reading rooms be opened not only in Aberdeen, but in other parts of Hong Kong, since there is such a great demand for these facilities which have not yet been met by the Government?
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