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putting on the road a mobile library, so this time let us examine the prospects for our museum and art gallery. Confined for so long to the narrow physical limitations of a floor or two in the City Hall High Block, which in a major development should really fit in as the branch on the Island and not serve as the main and so far only public museum and art gallery in all Hong Kong, our activities have necessarily been restricted in scope and frequency. The Council has lived in false hopes in this matter as in others for far too long, looking forward to the day when the long-planned major museum would be built, and temporizing meanwhile in the City Hall as best we can; thus, our young people are deprived of a most useful and fascinating means of education. For fear that the Council would become complacent and resigned to this fate as it were, we are opening a branch museum in Star House, Kowloon. This move is intended to get our physical presence out of the City Hall, so to speak, and to provide a museum in Kowloon, as a first step, with more to come in time. Worthwhile programmes can be developed there in co-operation with school authorities, while the prospects for the Museum in the Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Complex remain bleak for some time to come.
For many years the Council has asked for various major cultural and recreation facilities to be built. Several possibilities were examined in course of time. Finally, our ambitions crystallized in the plans for the cultural complex in a garden setting in Tsim Sha Tsui, the indoor stadium in Hung Hom, the football stadium in Ho Man Tin and some other projects of a smaller scale elsewhere. Our plans have been overtaken by the economic crisis, so we must bide our time and review the whole position objectively.
Anyway, we have just been told that another delay is likely as the Government will not move out the post office in a converted building, now about fifty years there on a temporary basis, until at least the end of the decade. This is another blow.
We are firmly resolved nevertheless to go ahead with our planetarium. A great amount of time has been spent by the Council, the Urban Services Department, the Public Works Department and others in meticulous preparation of all aspects of this complicated project. It will be a most exciting and valuable addition to our community assets and will give untold pleasure and education to all, while truly opening new worlds for our young people in particular.
The concern the Council has unfailingly shown for the leisure-time of our people has always taken practical form. Our activities have intensified, increased in range and spread out over the ten districts.
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have intensified, increased in range and spread out over the ten districts.
When these sports and entertainment programmes were started not so very long ago, it was novel for Hong Kong that the Government should be involved in offering entertainment programmes for the people in their own neighbourhoods on a sustained basis. Such programmes are now evaluated every month, an exercise which must be methodically carried out to determine the extent and pattern of future activities which will be stepped up and become more selective from actual experience of what the people want in each area. The response is already very encouraging and our initiative in this field bids fair to being a success story worth writing about in time.
The Future
While going through hard times, the Council would still do well to press on with our preparations for a better Hong Kong for all. Let us not call a halt to our plans; rather, let us stagger them if we must. To lay a good foundation for the Council is the aim. Then, by all means, re-examine what we do and how we perform, but only to do better. Re-organize, where we must; change, where we need. But, let us do so while moving forward, not standing still. For, this Council must set an example of progress and confidence, this year more than before. Always with dignity and integrity, we must re-double our effort in the service of the community. And, Hong Kong will take heart and prosper without fail, but this time, let us hope, with a fair share for all.
Appreciation
My colleagues will join me in thanking all those who in the past year helped us in some way to achieve our aims. First, there are those who directly work so well and hard with the Council: the Director of Urban Services and all his staff as well as the Secretary and all in the Council section. Then, there are the many officers of all government departments with whom we work in any way; also, there are the many individuals and organizations who give advisory service in our various committees. Next, there is the public whom we try to serve and from whom we get more valuable advice and warm encouragement than is generally believed. Finally, we appreciate the goodwill the Governor shows and the interest taken in our progress as well as the friendly co-operation the Colonial Secretary gives us. And, before I put the motion for your vote, I renew my own appreciation of the very good work you have done in this Council, together and individually, in the service of the community.
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