XN000022-1972-06-26 — Page 2

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Monday, June 26, 1972

"As I see it the New Territories are composed of three parts with

quite different characteristics. Firstly, there are the new towns that have

been built, such as Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung, and those which will be built,

such as Tuen Mun and Shatin. Next there are the large areas of low-lying land,

once rice fields, now mixed agriculture but often with their conglomeration of

huts, makeshift dwellings and small scale industry which have proliferated in

recent years. Finally there is the undeveloped country-side such as the Sai

Kung and Sha Tau Kok peninsulas, the magnificent area around Tai Mo Shan, Shing

Mun and Tai Lam Chung, and, of course, the island of Lantau.

"When anyone talks of the New Territories it is my experience that they

are seldom thinking of all three of these parts.

"With regard to the new towns, our object is that in future they

should be built as complete units, self-sufficient as to places of employment

and housing and also as to medical, educational and other services, and with

the amenities and environment that will make them agreeable places to live in

and will attract inhabitants from the over-densely populated parts of Hong

Kong, particularly, I hope, young couples. Together with the necessary

communications system which is a prerequisite. These are the conditione

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which will ensure the most rapid growth and the greatest contentment. The

principles of building new towns are well understood by planners in Hong Kong,

as the world over, and it is simply a question of applying them here within

the resources available.

"Then there is the question of the rural sprawl over the low-lying

land, often engulfing old-established villages, with its attendant problem of

inadequate water, lighting and sanitation and of pollution

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in short of rural

/slums..