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HONG KONG legislativE COUNCIL.
children's playground as "an eloquent and practical comment on the 'high falutin' sentiments expressed at the last Legislative Council meeting." The writer describes the Chatham Road playground as "drab, dusty and in the evening a coolies' spittoon; it is positively dangerous. It fronts a long stretch of straight road which offers a temptation to motorists, which, as a whole, they do not and cannot be expected to resist. The railings are about a couple of feet high, and take an active child of four some five seconds to scale. It is easy to 'save' money by allowing such a wretched place to go unim- proved."
A cognate subject is that of open spaces. Realising the interest which your Excellency has taken in the rapid growth of Kowloon, it must be apparent how intensively building operations are proceeding especially at Kowloon Point. At the present building rate the few remaining open spaces will have disappeared within the next few months, and the mistake which is apparent in the congested districts of the Island will be perpetuated in Kowloon.
While on the subject of sanitation it becomes my duty respect- fully to invite your Excellency's attention to the serious obstruction of public thoroughfares at Kowloon-and the same may be said of similar conditions obtaining on the Island-by licensed stallholders for the sale of food-stuffs that should be kept within the limits of the markets or shops especially licensed for the purpose. There is flagrant abuse of the conditions attached to these licences. A drive any afternoon through the thickly inhabited districts will convince the most unobservant that certain roadways on the Peninsula as well as on the Island have been converted into open market places by the advantage taken by permittees in exceeding the privileges conceded under the terms of their licences. This abuse of privilege makes it difficult for sanitary regulations to be enforced, not to speak of the serious obstructions to traffic.
Pursuing further the subject of sanitation, I must once again urge upon the attention of Government the intolerable nuisance created by market gardeners in various localities in New Kowloon. Again and again have I been approached to make representations to the Sanitary Authorities for the abatement of the very objectionable practise of the use of human manure by market gardeners in the vicinity of dwelling houses. I must not, however, fail in my apprecia- tion of the successful efforts exerted by the officers of the Sanitary Department, under the direction of the Head of the Department, in mitigating the nuisance in some cases, especially a recent one at Shamshuipo. But the persistence of permittees in reverting to the insanitary and offensive practice when vigilance is slightly relaxed calls for the immediate cancellation of the permits. offenders can be found any day within the Kowloon Tong Estate.
Notorious
Much disappointment has been felt with the recent statement from the Honourable Colonial Secretary in this Council that unattend- ed cars and motor-cycles will not be permitted in future within the
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