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some considerable time. I am therefore extremely pleased to be able to inform him that under the widely-publicized switch-financing arrangements real progress is now being made towards the early provision of these facilities.
At Middle Bay, South Bay, Big Wave Bay and Stanley beaches, new beach buildings containing toilets, showers and changing facilities are now under construction. The buildings at Middle Bay and South Bay beaches are scheduled for completion in mid-May, and those at Big Wave Bay and Stanley in mid-June. Tenders have also been invited for the construction of additional changing rooms and showers at Shek O, and work is expected to be completed by the end of July.
(Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG arrived at the meeting at this point.)
At Repulse Bay, additional public toilets, changing rooms and showers are planned as an integral part of a scheme for the redevelopment of the Lido. It was hoped that these facilities would also be ready by the early summer of 1975, but planning has been delayed by technical difficulties connected with land allocation and I am afraid it is unlikely that the new facilities will be available to swimmers at this beach during the coming swimming season. Additional toilet facilities for Deep Water Bay beach are also in the advanced stages of planning, but will not, unfortunately, be available until 1976.
In short, whilst I am unable to promise improved facilities at all the popular Hong Kong beaches by the start of the 1975 swimming season, I can at least assure Mr. MACKENZIE that they will be available at Middle Bay, South Bay, Big Wave Bay and Stanley early in the season, and at Shek O by the middle of it.
MR. CHARLES C. C. SIN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I understand that planning of toilet facilities etc. in Repulse Bay has been delayed by technical difficulties connected with land allocation. Can Mr. Lo tell us whether these difficulties are connected with non-availability of land or other difficulties?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo (in English): -Mr. Chairman, the position at Repulse Bay is quite different from that of other beaches, because the additional facilities are to be provided as part of the Lido development which is a private development. There were some rather involved negotiations, as a result of which it was agreed that they would build on part of the land, changing rooms etc. for use by the public. It is not like the other beach buildings which are purely Urban Council construction.
MR. CHARLES C. C. SIN (in English):-Arising from the answer, does it mean that these facilities will only be available after the Lido has provided the facilities?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo (in English):-That is correct.
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RESUMPTION OF ANNUAL CONVENTIONAL DEBATE
CHAIRMAN (in English):-I will now exercise my right of reply under Standing Order 20, Section 17, in the resumption of the Annual Conventional Debate. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Council is a beehive of activity. Such was the impression the excellent reports by the chairmen of our select committees made on all who listened to our debate last month. Indeed, the Council engages in many and varied activities with the sole aim of making life generally more amenable for the people here while discharging our statutory duties.
Throughout the year the Council issued releases to the media in a constant effort to communicate with the people about our work and what we intended doing, and also used other means to do so, notably the very successful "Urbco 74" when "the Council met the people" as a press review put it. Even so, it is also on such public occasions as the current debate that we are able to put to the public the Council's plans, policies and activities. The two-part form many members used this year as some did before enabled them to give an account of their work though only in broad outline, and also to speak equally freely on matters outside the immediate responsibility of the Council, yet always the right of citizens to raise with the interest of Hong Kong at heart.
It must be expected that those who are engaged in public activities would find it proper that their opinion should be made known on matters of public consequence. But, there is the need to balance off one's views against the general interest of the people as a whole. Often it is a question of personal judgment and perspective. No matter how much we may jealously guard our right to speak freely, and we enjoy it virtually without bounds in Hong Kong, still, the greater the freedom we have to do so, the greater the price we must expect to pay in terms of
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