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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN.
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CHAIRMAN:-Ladies and gentlemen, the meeting is called to order.
Before moving to today's agenda, I would like to congratulate Mr. SALES, Mr. LOBO, Mr. FORSGATE (in his absence) and Mr. Kenneth Lo on their reappointment to the Council. (Applause). I am speaking for all Members present when I say how pleased I am to see you all back with us for a further term of office. (Applause). I would also like to welcome our new Member, Mr. Lo Tak-shing, who is taking his seat for the first time this afternoon in place of Mr. Wilson WANG. I hope that Mr. Lo will find his Council work interesting and rewarding, as I am sure he will, and I express to him our best wishes for a long and happy association with us. (Applause).
Mr. ROBSON, the Director of Public Works, is regrettably in hospital, but Members will be relieved to learn that his ailment is only a minor one. During his absence, Mr. R. C. CLARKE has been appointed to act as Director of Public Works and I would now welcome him to our midst. Mr. CLARKE, as Members are well aware, has for many years done yeoman work for us in his capacity as Superintendent of Crown Lands in seeing that as much open space was allocated as possible. (Applause).
I regret also that the Commissioner for Resettlement is indisposed and unable to be with us today. It falls to me, therefore, to answer his questions and again I would seek Members' indulgence with regard to supplementaries, as I only knew about this this morning.
MINUTES.
The Minutes of the meeting held on 3rd March, 1970, were confirmed.
PAPERS.
THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following papers:-
(1) Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban Services Department for the month of March 1970. (2) Statement of Progress for 1969-70.
MR. A. de O. SALES: Before I speak as Chairman of the Cultural Affairs Select Committee and Recreation and Amenities Select Committee, I would like to thank you for the congratulations that you offered the Appointed Members who are back with the Urban Council. I was wondering whether you chose the word "congratulations" advisedly. (Laughter). I should have thought "commiseration" would
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be a better term. (Laughter). Mr. Chairman, we the Unofficials, for whom I might presume to speak, our Elected Friends as well as Appointed, are very pleased to have Mr. CLARKE with us.
As you rightly said he has been a great help to the Urban Council. However, when we came in together, I was alarmed that he should be here. I thought that he had come here to cut the ground from under our feet; that he was surveying the position to auction off this bit of land on which the Urban Council stands, but I am assured by him that he has no such evil intention on the part of the Hong Kong Government. (Laughter).
Sir, the content of pages 16-17 of the Progress Report, concerning the Cultural Services of the Urban Council, is worth emphasizing this afternoon. This has been a tremendous development. The City Hall has been a great success. It does not need to be proved that the people of Hong Kong will make good use of any amenity that the Government might wish to give and for this reason that Select Committee, Sir, has, for some time now, recommended to the Government the construction of a Civic Centre for the people of Kowloon. It is also true, Sir, that the Select Committee has gone to great lengths to achieve this purpose by carrying out a survey of the facilities that would be required for such a Civic Centre. These recommendations were put forward to the Government and I had occasion to refer to them at length in this Council in order that a record might be made of the details.
Sir, I can only hope that the Government will be "seized with the importance" to the public of having a Civic Centre in Kowloon. I do not doubt the fact that Government is already concerned very greatly, as the Festival of Hong Kong Organizing Committee was, over the great shortage of facilities for public entertainment in Kowloon. I hope that this fact is brought, all the time, to the attention of the Government because, if I might say, with the greatest respect, at times the Colonial Secretariat seems to be purblind to the needs of the people according to the Urban Council.
Secondly, on page 34, there is a report on the public entertainment programme conducted by the Urban Council for the year which has just ended. That was a great innovation on the part of the Council and has proved to be a tremendous success and it is our hope that the Government will give us the money and the staff to increase and expand the scope of the programme for the benefit of the people. In this connexion, I would like to repeat the importance of Government providing ample physical facilities for this programme to be put into effect. In Kowloon, in particular, such facilities are conspicuously absent. We built, in double-quick time, the open-air theatre at Morse Park because it was expedient to have a theatre for the Festival of Hong Kong and it is our hope, Sir, that you will impress upon the Government the need for the provision of more such open-air theatres
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