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But what of leisure hours? Until the very moment of writing these words I have received no indication, from any source, of what the Co-ordinating Committee for Youth and Recreation under the chairmanship of the Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary (Social Services) has planned for this new decade, the first year of which is now almost over. I realize that there is no reason why I personally should be informed, but why have the people of Hong Kong not been told? The Summer Youth Programme, this year, for 8 hundred thousand was very good, but I submit, not enough. What I wish to develop now should not be dismissed because it is the opinion of one woman.
Look at the facts. This Council has continued to develop more recreational and entertainment facilities, but we have no qualified staff to be in charge of overall organization. By qualified, I mean professional men and women, graduates of Physical Education colleges or universities. We rely on borrowed expertise. We lean heavily on personnel of other Government departments. As a tax-payer I fully approve of this sort of economy, but pushed to a ridiculous degree it is hopelessly short-sighted and out-dated. I happen to know. The very officers who help us out time and again, in fact on a round the year basis are unable to carry out their own specific jobs in their own department, fully and completely satisfactorily, simply because they have not the time.
By now, many of my colleagues will be rather tired of these generalizations I expect. After seventeen years of headship in a school fortunate enough to have excellent physical education facilities, and after a year and a half on this Council, I am alarmed to discover how much our work is performed by others not on the Council or in the Urban Services Department. Surely the time has come for us to do our own work, with our own staff. We plan recreational facilities and amenities, have them built and then pretend to see that they are used. In actual fact, much more could be done. Comparisons with other cities in the world are interesting intellectual exercises, but the circumstances often differ very greatly, but I believe basic principles remain the same.
What does any civic organization be it a municipal council or rural council or local authority do elsewhere? It serves the community by providing facilities, the means whereby these facilities are used, and the professional staff to organize a total effort. Decentralization often leads to unnecessary delay and futile entanglements. Let us see what happens here. Our Town Planning Board, as is well known, is the first authority to assess the lay out of our land, which is so limited that any comparison with another big metropolis really ends forthwith. Our claim as a Council to any land is considered against the claims of others, but perhaps we are fortunate. The Public Works Department provides us after some time with the physical facilities, a pleasant opening ceremony is arranged, and that's that. Our task subsequently appears to be to provide trees or litter bins or fountains, all very necessary and sometimes attractive. Now when we have big swimming pool complexes, and very soon the Morse Park complex will be opened, I believe, we should have our own P.E. specialists, on a full time basis to organize programmes and training courses for the community use of these facilities.
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The time has come to branch out in another way. The quota of 30 acres of flat land per 100,000 people which is the basis of all town planning here is often unattainable, certainly in old residential areas like Yau Ma Tei and the Western district of Hong Kong. This historical aspect of the scarcity of open space is not unique to Hong Kong, not satanic in design, but it is, of course, deplorable to the inhabitants of these areas. Fortunately, in the case of Yau Ma Tei, there is something of a lung in Kowloon Park.
Now let us go out to our hills, both in the urban areas and in the New Territories, and to the sea and our coasts in the New Territories. In a city-state of under 400 square miles, the time is opportune for one authority to deal with all recreational facilities. I know partisan feelings can be easily aroused on this one, but are we not in fact, all citizens of no mean city?
Let negotiations be started now, let legislation be drawn up now, let the people of Hong Kong be provided now, with one central authority to look after their recreational and leisure needs. Since our last Debate, and the statutory holiday, we have seen part of the throbbing heart that is Hong Kong on the move, every Sunday, and it would be careless and unfeeling for us to take no heed of their justifiable requirements. I believe we can set up our own P.E. section fairly soon and easily. Before I proceed I must promise Mr. BLAKER a private debate on this one. The Hong Kong Cricket Club pavilion, if and when it is vacated, would make an admirable headquarters for our Urban Council P.E. Unit. Personnel could be recruited from the ranks of the Education Department Physical Education Section, which in turn could recruit from among local men and women already through with professional training overseas, or now undergoing such training. Money? This is certainly a problem, but no problem is too great or difficult for our Financial Secretary if he is confident that the money will be properly spent. There is no balance sheet that even Sir John could draw up when on the debit side you have more money, and on the credit side incalculable benefit to youth.
There is no facile answer to the complicated problems of youthful delinquency, and I am not going to suggest that additional facilities alone would cut down the crime rate, but we must acknowledge that we should not, in this day and age, continue to be satisfied with inadequate provision for our young citizens.
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