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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN:-Ladies and gentlemen, before we move to the agenda, I would like to extend very warm congratulations to Mr. LOBO, Mr. Wu and Mrs. SYMONS on their appointment to Legislative Council.
(Applause).
## MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 13th June, 1972, were confirmed.
(Mr. H. M. G. FORSGATE arrived at this point).
## PAPER
THE CHAIRMAN laid upon the table the following paper:
(1) Report on the work of the Urban Council and Urban Services Department for the month of June 1972.
MR. A. de O. SALES:-Impressive as our achievements in providing the public with a wide range of sports and recreational facilities may seem, yet progress is far too slow for our liking. The backlog is still very long because we must make good the failure of the past and also cope with the strong demand to be expected from a young population, not to mention increasing leisure and rising incomes.
But, side by side with building playgrounds and sports installations, we must ensure that they are properly managed and used to good advantage by the people. This cannot be said to be the case at present even though the Urban Services Department tries hard. Indeed, nearly all our play facilities are put to great use, too much so perhaps, but mostly without proper organization for positive social purposes.
The Council has long pointed out to the Government that qualified staff must be engaged as a matter of urgency, but no action has followed.
Council has asked the Government to set up a Recreation Service. It is intended to cover Hong Kong as a whole. The scheme has been drawn up to serve the mass of our population in their own neighbourhoods. It calls for the creation of the post of District Recreation Officers. Only in this way would Hong Kong be able to come to grips with the growing call for an effective organization to carry out, on a sustained basis, recreation development programme of direct benefit to the people.
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Physical recreation in densely populated Hong Kong, where nearly half the population are said to be under 21, must be an even more important aspect of Government's social policy than perhaps elsewhere. As I said before, putting money into sport and recreation is a social investment. But, I suspect even this carefully thought-out scheme is picking its way slowly in our corridors of power where the interminable circulation of files is a way of life. Is there no sense of urgency? The situation calls for swift and positive action if the Government has youth welfare really at heart.
MR. DENNY M. H. HUANG:-Mr. Chairman, as Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee, I wish to report briefly on progress in the preparations for the forthcoming "Keep Hong Kong Clean" Campaign, in which this Council is so deeply interested and involved.
The most recent and significant development is the granting by the Finance Committee of Legislative Council of $1.5 million with which to pursue the bold and imaginative scheme devised by the Secretariat for Home Affairs for large-scale community involvement in the campaign. This envisages the formation of 70 Area Committees which would enlist over fifteen thousand volunteers for actual work in assisting the Government efforts at cleaning Hong Kong. A sum of about $300,000 for a similar scheme in the New Territories has also been approved.
As regards legislation, the Public Health and Urban Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill had its first reading on 5th July, and is scheduled to reach the committee stage on 19th July. When enacted, this will enable the Urban Council to make its new Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances By-laws soon thereafter. These by-laws are designed to strengthen our efforts at enforcing anti-litter measures generally, and to curb the irresponsible attitudes of that minority in every community to whom civic-mindedness and good-neighbourliness is unimportant. I hope at the next public meeting of this Council to move the adoption of these new by-laws.
As regards the projection of campaign efforts to the schools sector, and bearing in mind the good advice of my appointed colleagues, Mr. MACKENZIE, at a recent meeting of the Campaign Committee, I am happy to report that schools have been officially notified in the last day or so of four competitions aimed at attracting their pupils to give thought to the meaning of this forthcoming campaign, and possibly to win substantial prizes also. The competitions are: salon; a contest for the best poster and bookmark; a poetry competition, a photographic and a study kit competition-all with anti-litter themes. Our thanks go to the Education Department for its ready co-operation in this field. In the long-term it is hoped to introduce permanent school anti-litter committees, to which end consideration is now being given, and of
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