CO129-614-3 Visit of Sir Patrick Abercrombie to advise on town planning 4-1-1948 - 10-1-1949 — Page 71

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With a large population of children who are not able to find school accommodation it is urgent to get the sites for future schools settled in relation to redistribution of the population.

Water Supply, as has been mentioned, may be a determining factor in the size of the population. With improved housing conditions the consumption per head of the existing population will increase and there is the future population to be allowed for.

The position is really serious and it is extremely desirable that at an early stage the areas for Catchment are marked out, so that there may be no danger of interference. The Tai Lam Chung Valley scheme appears to be the most practical one for a large increase, but the relation of speed of construction to the demands of increasing population, is so close that it may be necessary to delay the installation of flushed W.Cs. until possibly the year 1957.

A drainage scheme would be required simultaneously with the full water supply: it has been suggested that the sewage should be transported clean outside the urban area to the agricultural lands where it can be made full use of for production purposes.

PART III. REALISATION

The matters discussed under the fourteen headings of Part II, will give some idea of the general lines which should be followed in preparing & Development plan for Hong Kong and certain specific suggestions which the Plan might adopt, worked out into more precise form.

All these positive suggestions were discussed with Mr. S.0.Hill, the Town Planning Officer and sketches left with him. What has been done in the writing of this Report, has been to go over the ground again, in the light of mature reflection and to come to decisions on many points which were left open while on the visit to the Colony.

It is now time to prepare and work out a definitive Plan; and for this purpose the Town Planning Officer will require a considerable staff and a large office. As mentioned in Part I, there are several aspects of survey work on which more detailed information is required; these additional surveys would naturally be prepared by the same staff, with help from other departments, e.g. Medical Office and Welfare Office, Chairman of the Urban Council, P.W.D., and official bodies such as the Chamber of Commerce.

There will come a certain time in the preparation of this Development Plan when decisions will have to be taken upon major recommendations especially those involving a financial outlay. Some decisions, indeed, may be made upon the basis of this Preliminary Report. Such a question as the Tunnel will affect central planning on both sides of the Harbour the question of the evacuation of the Services from Queens Road will affect the planning of the Central Area: the question of an ultimate housing density will affect the area in Kowloon required for rehousing the decentralised population.