4-
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15. The area we have in mind at Causeway Bay as being necessary for this project includes the whole of the area now covered by the Army Depôt.
16. Further, we consider that the granting of a ground at Causeway Bay to the Hong Kong Football Club should be subject to the following safeguards: -
(a) that the ground be made available to the Hong Kong Football Associa-
tion when required.
(b) that the ground be made available for big sporting and other events not
directly the concern of the Club.
The inclusion of such safeguards would then obviate the necessity for Government to build a stadium.
17. Should Government decide to accept our recommendation in para. 14 above, then a lease of twenty-one years in respect of the Hong Kong Football Club's present site becomes no longer necessary.
18. In this event, we recommend that the Hong Kong Football Club remain in possession of their present ground until the Causeway Bay Stadium is ready for use.
19. Additionally the extent of development embarked upon at their present site will depend upon the estimated length of time before the change to Causeway Bay can take place. We consider therefore that in these circumstances the present Hong Kong Football Club ground should be extended over a portion of the old Civil Service Cricket Club ground sufficient to enable the Football Club to erect adequate stands at both ends of the pitch.
III.
The Combined Armed Services.
20. We have considered and, in view of the high percentage of grounds in the Urban area now allocated to these Services, find ourselves in agreement, in principle, with the findings of the Hon. Dr. Fehily's Committee on the subject. However, these findings were arrived at when the Garrison was but a fifth of its present size, and having due regard to the representations contained in His Excellency the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief's letter dated 4th January, 1950 to His Excellency the Governor, we are of the opinion that the recommendation of the Hon. Dr. Fehily's Committee should be held in abeyance for the time being, and that they should be implemented only by degrees as the size of the Garrison tends once more towards normal.
21. We feel, however, that some more definite recommendation is desirable than merely to hold the findings referred to in abeyance.
:
We therefore recommend that
(a) "The Boundary Street and the Sookunpoo grounds be allocated to the
Services as recommended by Hon. Dr. Fehily's Committee."
(b) "The Navy be offered a five year lease of their present No. 1 Ground
at Causeway Bay."
(c) "The Navy retain their King's Park Hockey and Cricket Ground on a
year to year basis."
(d) "That the Services relinquish the pitches within the Race Course at Happy Valley now allocated to them only when an Organization capable of efficiently dealing with a pool of grounds is ready to go into opera- tion."
(Note: The Question of such an organization is dealt with in Part VI).
(e) "Having relinquished the pitches within the Race Course at Wong Chong, that the Services shall then be entitled, in common with other Associa- tions, Clubs, and Schools, to apply for these grounds by the pitch, and by the hour, as necessity demands."
(f) "That the Competent Authority allocating grounds under the 'Pool' scheme shall give sufficient priority to Service applications to ensure, that in the existing state of the Garrison in the Colony, there is no reduction in the playing hours required by the Services."
(g) "That grounds ultimately relinquished by the Services should be allocated
to the 'Pool' scheme" (see Part VI).
(h) "That the Royal Navy retain their Pavilion at Wong Nei Chong until such time as their need for extra pitches at this ground is so reduced that they no longer wish to use this Pavilion.
The question of its disposal, and any compensation in lieu thereof, shall then be a matter for negotiation between Government and the Royal Navy."
IV.
Applications from Clubs etc., other than Old Established Clubs
which had already rehabilitated the Clubhouse and ground.
22. Appendix VI gives a list of all such applications received directly by us or previously by the Chairman of the Urban Council. We considered that certain of these, not being concerned with outdoor Recreation, or being concerned directly with the making of profit, did not fall under the terms of reference and must be ruled out. Of the remainder, four only, in our opinion, could be considered well founded applications. In respect of these applications we recommend as follows:-
(a) "That the Post Office Recreation Club combined with the staff of Cable and Wireless be offered a lease of ten years in respect of the area for which they had applied, namely area C, Caroline Hill.”
(b) "That the Hong Kong Softball Association be offered a ten-year lease of area G King's Park." (Note.-Area G King's Park was formerly allotted to Recreio but has not been rehabilitated since 1945).
(c) "The Sanitary Department Welfare Committee be offered a ten-year lease of the old Nippon Club in King's Park namely areas I and J.”
(d) "That the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants Club be offered a ten-year lease of area N King's Park." (Note.-Area N prior to 1941 had been allocated to the Netherlands Club, which Club had intimated that they were not in a position to rehabilitate the ground).
23. We consider that all these leases should contain clauses to the effect that development of the ground shall be to a standard approved by Government, and that no Club shall be entitled to compensation in respect of such development should the lease be not renewed.
24. With regard to (c) and (d) due attention was given to the fact that applica- tion was made for sites on the Island of Hong Kong. In the existing scarcity of grounds, we could see no way to recommending this.
V.
Area A, Wong Nei Chong
(formerly Civil Service Cricket Club).
25. This area, the final size of which is dependent upon the decision taken in regard to the Hong Kong Football Club Scheme, has lain derelict for the past five years. The Clubhouse belonged to the now moribund Civil Service Cricket Club, the final fate of which is still obscure. However in view of the long period which has elapsed, and since the ultimate use of this area must be co-related with the General Scheme for the Wong Nei Chong Recreation Grounds, we are of the opinion that a decision as to its fate should no longer be deferred.
26. The response to the invitation for applications was in our opinion very much smaller than the demand which we feel is extant in the Colony. It is our opinion that this disparity was most probably due to the fact that the cost of erection of ac- commodation, and of maintenance of grounds, had precluded many interested groups from applying. Two instances of this had been brought to our notice.
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