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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL PAPERS
The following papers were laid on the table:-
(1) Reports to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of May 1974.
(2) Statistics of attendances by individual Members at the Urban Council, Committee, Panel and Board Meetings for the year 1973-74.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
picnics, school dances, fashion shows, and martial art demonstrations.
In short, the Council will be mounting an exciting programme of entertainment for this summer, designed to appeal to the young and to those young once, containing the best of past successful items and breaking fresh ground with a number of new ideas. I now lay upon the table present plans for the Council's summer entertainment programme for June, July and August.
QUESTIONS
(1) Miss Ko SIU-WAH asked the following question (in English):-
Have the details of the Urban Council summer entertainment programmes been finalized? And if so, could this Council be informed of them?
MR. ALEX S. C. WU, ACTING CHAIRMAN OF THE ENTERTAINMENTS AND ADVERTISING SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-- Mr. Chairman, so far, the Urban Council's summer entertainment programme embraces 18 different items to take place in various parks and playgrounds.
Of great spectator or audience appeal are such items as Cantonese operas by the Lung Cheung Opera Troupe; Cantonese musical comedies by Radio Hong Kong artistes; variety shows with Mandarin songs; acrobatic and magic shows; folk dances; film shows; band concerts; Fukienese string puppet shows; Cantonese stick puppet shows and roller skating displays. There are also participation-type items such as launch picnics, swimming pool galas, beach "swim-ins", learn-to-swim programmes, and volleyball training sessions. The Council has also co-sponsored various sports events with sports associations, and also co-sponsors district leagues for football, basketball and volley-ball competitions, as well as bicycle races.
In addition to this firm programme, additional items now being studied for feasibility are: youth dances, Police entertainment items, Chinese orchestral concerts, country
(2) Miss Ko KIU-WAH asked the following question (in Cantonese):
(a) What are the criteria for approving subsidy in the hiring of the City Hall facilities?
(b) How many applications have been received since the introduction of the scheme in April this year?
(c) What percentage of these applications was successful? (d) What has been the range in hire charges under the scheme?
MR. LO TAK-SHING, CHAIRMAN OF THE CITY HALL SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):
Mr. Chairman, the question concerns the policy and implementation of the subsidy scheme introduced together with the revised scale of hire charges for City Hall facilities. Basically, the criteria for subsidy to City Hall hirers are:
(a) there must be a genuine need for financial assistance from the Urban Council; and
(b) the hirer should be a society registered under the Societies Ordinance or incorporated under the Companies Ordinance; also that its constitution should specifically provide that the members do not take any share of the profits or any share of the assets upon dissolution; that the function to be held is in furtherance of educational, scientific, industrial, artistic or public health purposes; and that a substantial number of the members of the Society will participate in the performance or exhibition.
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