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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
competitions of various kinds. The Urban Council has every reason to be proud of this free and massive outdoor entertainment programme. Even in the course of the Festival of Asian Arts, an event which has not only formally established itself in the Hong Kong cultural calendar but which has also received widespread acclaim from our South-east Asian neighbours, we have not forgotten to launch our activities in the direction of outdoor entertainment. We invited some of the performing artists in the Festival of Asian Arts to do outdoor performances and they got a splendid response from the appreciative public.
But during the course of these many events, I observe that there is a tremendous deficiency in our facilities. This deficiency lies in our not having enough decent outdoor open air theatres such as the one in Morse Park which should perhaps be of a higher standard too. The result of this drawback is that because we do not have adequate open air theatres, the better artists are not encouraged at all of performing in various parts of Hong Kong and Kowloon. This, in my view, is a very sad loss, sad because it is a deficiency which is very much within our power to rectify very rapidly. If we have more good open air theatres, we could get better artists to come forward to perform in a way which befit their talent. As things stand we have to rely on just one mobile theatre and on other occasions arrangements are absolutely makeshift. Lighting and sound equipment are consequently also of a standard much below what our requirements are.
The second point I wish to make before I conclude my speech concerns the content of our outdoor entertainment programme. As I have noted above, because we do not have adequate and proper open air theatres, the standard of our programme must have been adversely affected. With the provision of more and better outdoor theatre facilities, we should at the same time make an effort to raise the standard of entertainment on these splendid occasions on which Urban Council cultural activities reach not only the man-in-the-street but also the man-in-the-public-housing-estate in every corner of urban Kowloon and Hong Kong. I should also like to suggest that in the course of revising upwards the standard of our programme we should also explore possibilities to see, side by side with entertainment per se, whether it is possible in the course of our outdoor entertainment programme to put certain social messages across. One example that immediately springs to my mind is "Keep Hong Kong Clean" messages and also messages which help to build up the civic-mindedness of the Hong Kong public. This of course would have to be tastefully done because we do not want any mediocre propaganda sessions, but I think there are possibilities which we have so far not explored.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
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(Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG and Mr. Edmund W. H. CHOW left the meeting and Mr. Peter C. K. CHAN arrived at this point.)
MR. SHUM CHOI-SANG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the projects undertaken by the Urban Council as well as the activities organized by it have been on the increase in the year under review. For example, swimming pools, markets and libraries were opened one after another, the foundation stone of the space museum was laid and bigger projects, such as the Kowloon Park, the Morrison Hill Indoor Stadium, the Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Complex and the Hunghom Indoor Stadium are all under way.
Acting on the instruction of the Urban Council, the Planning Division of the Urban Services Department has drawn up a 10-year works plan with the Architectural Office of the Public Works Department. In order to avoid delays, the Council and the Government have agreed to try engaging private architects or consultant companies to work on projects, so that more amenities deemed necessary by the Council may, in a comparatively short period of time, be made available to the community.
Besides the above projects, there is also a significant increase in the number of free entertainment and cultural activities organized by the Council this year. The Council's sports programmes are both manifold and varied and have reached some 300,000 youth during the year.
The Asian Arts Festival, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra are all receiving full support from the Council. What has been mentioned above only forms part of the work of the Council which is also responsible for the management of abattoirs and cemeteries, the cleaning of streets as well as the control of food business and hawkers.
The work mentioned above has been undertaken by the 15,000 staff of the Urban Services Department while the policies governing such work are decided by the 24 Urban Councillors.
In the past year, a total of 302 meetings were convened by various Select Committees and Sub-Committees and altogether 3,148 papers were perused by the Councillors attending these meetings. Roughly, each Councillor was required to attend at least 3 meetings a week; besides, they had to undertake the responsibility of interviewing complainants, inspecting various projects and attending functions of the