XN000022-1972-10-18 — Page 21

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YOUTH PROGRAMME PRAT SED

Wednesday, October 18, 1972

Hong Kong's youth programme was praised by the Governor,

Sir Murray MacLehose, today during the opening of the 1972-73 session of

the Legislative Council.

However, he said, recreational facilities were obviously inadequate

and he suggested that the Government had a special obligation to develop

nearby rural areas for recreation.

Sir Murray said some of the things that are done for young people

are "really excellent". It is estimated that at any one time, recreational

activities are provided for more than one million young people.

"If I might say so, I think its excellence lies in it having been

developed to meet the specific needs of Hong Kong, and not copied from

elsewhere."

As regards the provision of more formal recreational facilities such

as football and basketball pitches and playing grounds, the Governor said it

"falls short of what we would wish".

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Some of these facilities, he said, are equal to or surpass in quality

anything else in the world for instance the new swimming pool complexes.

"But the need is also for quantity, and I do not think that anyone

will claim that this is yet adequate, admirably though the Urban Council

administers its 644 recreational facilities and 272 playgrounds."

Not unnaturally, he said, Government has tended to implement first

those parts of the town plans which relate to the "basics" such as housing,

industry, roads, government and private offices.

/However,