TNAG-0773-FCO40-977-Redevelopment-of-the-former-Kowloon-Canton-Railway-Station-1978 — Page 31

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GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT

RMY NDOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

- 5 MAY 1978

本署檔號 OUR REF.:

ENV 94/75/0511 (TC 252/77)

18th April 1978

DOK OFFICER INDEX

PA

Actio ken

來函檔號 Your REF.:

ты

W.E. Quantrill, Esq.,

Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London SW1A 2AH,

ENGLAND.

No Thompson √21/4

Dear Quantrill, (we have promised to more fust if

Former Kowloon-Canton Railway Station

We have assembled the views of the relevant departments on the points raised in the Hong Kong Heritage Society's petition and on the three points raised in your letter of 21st March.

2.

we can, so as not to

hold up work on th New Cultonl centre).

While the petition to The Queen contains no substantial new arguments, its main point of attack appears to have shifted compared with the earlier petition to the Governor. It is now claimed that there is widespread popular support for the preservation of this building and the clocktower and that this is being ignored by the Government.

3.

Our information is that there is no significant general support, either for the preservation of this building or of the clock tower and that most ordinary people remain indifferent to the fate of either.

4.

The claim made in the petition that there is widespread popular support for the preservation of this building relies largely on the Society's collection of some 15,000 signatures, in a "public opinion poll", in support of the preservation of the building. Many of these were collected from passers-by at the Star Ferry concourse, who would not have the time to absorb the issues involved before signing. Little reliance can be placed on such a "pol1" as a test of public opinion. Similarly the press campaign, which was mostly confined to the English language press, gave more prominence to the Heritage Society's opposition to Government's intentions to demolish the station building than to the case for its preservation. Chinese news media gave only moderate coverage to the controversy.

5.

Our comments on the points made in the petition are as follows :

The

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