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MR. NG: Mr. Chairman. It is very simple. The figures in the report are for outstanding applications. The 299 are unlicensed restaurants, some of them may not have made any application at all.
MRS. SYMONS: None of these 115 are operating, they are very, very good, they are not operating until we have given them a licence? MR. NG: No, Mr. Chairman, it doesn't mean that. The 299 include the 115.
MR. BERNACCHI: --Supplementaries have concentrated on resettlement restaurants which are very much in the minority. I would like to ask the Chairman of the Food and Food Premises Select Committee whether he is content with these 299 unlicensed restaurants generally, and what is the Urban Council as an Urban Council doing about it?
MR. NG: Mr. Chairman, the first part of the answer is "yes", I am very content about it. The second part, I am afraid Mr. Bernacchi will have to give me notice of this question.
(15)
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question:-
Would the Chairman please advise this Council if it is our aim to have a Municipal Orchestra of our own? If so, when is it likely to be implemented?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo, CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
The question of a symphony orchestra for Hong Kong was first raised by the then Chairman of the City Hall Select Committee in the 1969 Annual Convention Debate. The matter was subsequently considered in Committee and it was decided that as a first step the Council should sponsor the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, a non-profit-making society with both professional and amateur players.
Since then the Council has sponsored some 50 concerts by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra which now presents three public concerts every six or seven weeks. It is generally recognized that the standard of performance by the orchestra has shown great improvement in the last two years, and most of its concerts are attended by capacity audiences. Indeed, over 30,000 seats were sold during the year for these performances.
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The Cultural Affairs Select Committee will be asked to consider how they can assist the orchestra to improve further its standard and to increase the frequency of its performances. The question of the eventual aim of establishing a full-time "municipal" orchestra will also be considered.
I should like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work put in by the Committee and members of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. They have made it possible for several thousands to hear orchestral music performed "live" each year. Of these, most are young people experiencing, perhaps for the first time, the "live" sound of a full symphony orchestra.
DR. HUANG: -In Mr. Lo's reply he says the matter was considered in Committee in 1969, and in paragraph 3 it was also said again "the question of the eventual aim of establishing a full-time 'municipal' orchestra will also be considered". I wonder whether the Chairman of the Cultural Affairs Select Committee can tell me how long are they going to consider, how many more years before they come to a decision?
MR. Lo: -Mr. Chairman, it is not a question of reaching a decision; it is a question of whether the project is feasible. That is what we are waiting for.
MR. SALES: May I ask a supplementary question which may perhaps elucidate the position? Is it not true that the proposal made by the Select Committee, the City Hall Select Committee, for financing such an orchestra is still with the Colonial Secretariat under so-called "active consideration"?
CHAIRMAN: -I would need notice of that question.
MR. SALES: No, it is just a statement, "yes" or "no", and if you are unable to, I can answer that question. It is still with the Colonial Secretariat. I would again like to put a supplementary question to you and if you are unable to answer it I will do that on your behalf. Is it not a fact, Mr. Chairman, that this scheme of co-sponsoring concerts by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra was put up as a substitute because of the intractability of the Colonial Secretariat over the question of financing them to a greater extent than hitherto?
CHAIRMAN: -It is true to the extent that this was a compromise. I would like to think that when the Council gets its own money, it will be able to look at it again.
MR. SALES: Is it not true that the Urban Council asked the Government for a block vote to develop cultural affairs, particularly
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