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DR. HU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, the main entrance is of little value to the housewives. The housewives normally enter from Macdonnell Road, pass over the bridge across Garden Road, then coming into the garden and go the other way round. There are very few people using the main gate as Mr. Lo said.
MR. Lo (in English):-That may be so, Mr. Chairman. On the other hand, the turnstiles and the fencing have been installed quite recently. I do not think we have justification in demolishing and taking them down. It may entail a bit of inconvenience in walking round to the main entrance, but after all, it is a very pleasant area. If you are in the garden, you would like strolling around anyway.
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Could we refer Dr. Hu's question to the Hon. Curator and let them settle it out of court. (Laughter)
DR. HU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, may I ask another supplementary? I think Mr. Chairman, through you, Mr. Lo would be aware that on the eastern side, the entrance door is about two feet high, so anybody who is accidentally inside the garden can go through that door without climbing any fence.
MR. Lo (in English):-I am glad to receive this information so there is another way out.
DR. HU (in English): As a matter of fact, there is little value of your reason 3 and I personally did not see any hawkers inside before the turnstiles were installed, neither the cyclists.
MR. Lo (in English):-Mr. Chairman, there was certainly some vandalism in 1975/76 and without these turnstiles and without the fencing, there is simply no way we can effectively control the entry of people into the garden. There is no way in controlling the situation. With the installation of these things, we can control it. It is necessary even if there is no nuisance inside. No hawkers, no cyclists, then, of course, we can open the gates more frequently.
DR. HU (in English):-Again, Mr. Chairman, if there are any other main doors opened, there is little value to get the statistical figures about persons visiting the garden. Reason No. 4 is of course of very little value too.
MR. Lo (in English):-Well, reason No. 4 is one day of the week when the main gates are opened, you can only go through the turnstiles then we can count the number of people going in.
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Mr. Lo, you will recall that your select committee had these turnstiles installed on the strong recommendation of the Hon.
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Curator for the sake of the animals which we introduced to the park. May I suggest that this matter be taken up further with the Hon. Curator? Perhaps, I repeat, a settlement could be reached out of court.
MR. LO (in English):-You are quite right, Mr. Chairman. The Hon. Curator in fact was very strongly of the opinion that these are not just botanical gardens but in fact a zoo as well. He was strongly urging us to completely fence it off and only allow entry on payment. The Council decided against that.
CHAIRMAN (in English): --Alternatively, could not a special arrangement be made for the western gate to be kept open at the time that Dr. Hu goes in every morning? Would that be satisfactory? (Laughter)
DR. HU (in English):-Again, Mr. Chairman, since you have said this, reason No. 1 of Mr. Lo's answer, the cyclists, it also prevents children going in there with small bicycles as well.
MR. Lo (in English):-That is true, whether the young children can ride small bicycles in the garden is not an easy question to answer.
DR. HU (in English):-And also, Mr. Chairman, these so-called cyclists, I think there were very few people who would bring their bicycles into this garden. I never saw any before these turnstiles were installed. I saw some children bringing in their toy bicycles inside but not now.
MR. HOWARD H. W. YOUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, judging from the answers just given, it appears that the turnstiles were installed for specific purposes, namely four as listed out in the answer. These appear to me to be very valid objectives for installing the turnstiles. Now that they are operational once a week, is there any danger of these purposes being defeated? I would like to know whether in fact the Council has considered any supplementary measures to ensure that the original objectives are being met. In other words, will we have to have staff standing by the open gates to ensure that stray dogs, cyclists and hawkers do not enter the garden?
MR. Lo (in English):-I do not think so, Mr. Chairman. As I said we put in these turnstiles and fencing because there was vandalism a few years ago. Now, if that should occur again, without the fencing, then we cannot do anything about it until the fencing has been put up. Now that it is there, we can control the situation more easily. I do not think it will be necessary to have staff standing by the main gates to stop cyclists going in. If that situation should arise, we will close the gates and allow entrance through the turnstiles.
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